Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their overall support for this Bill and for the comments I have heard this evening. I will start by responding to some of those comments and questions.

Several Deputies mentioned the recent CCPC investigation of price-signalling in the motor insurance sector. This Bill means that in future such behaviour will be punishable by huge administrative sanctions. Deputies O'Reilly, Carthy and Ó Murchú mentioned the delay in bringing this Bill forward. In an Irish constitutional context, this Bill is groundbreaking. It also goes further than merely transposing the directive by extending the administrative sanctions to breaches of national competition law and increasing other CCPC powers regarding mergers and surveillance. The Minister is committed to ensuring that the CCPC is well resourced.

A number of Deputies raised the matter of flood insurance. The CCPC can only look at the insurance sector from the perspective of competition law. Regulation of the insurance sector overall rests with the Central Bank. On the matter of the banking sector, again regulation is within the remit of the Central Bank. The CCPC's role relates to competition law and assessment of mergers.

In response to Deputy Shanahan, this legislation would have had no role to play in the banking crisis as the issues at that time were not related to competition law breaches.

The public procurement issues raised are not within the Minister's remit as they are the responsibility of the procuring body. I am the Minister of State with responsibility for public procurement and I can say that the majority of public procurement spend is allocated to small and medium enterprises. I meet with representatives of the small and medium enterprises sector every quarter so their feedback can be taken into account in matters of procurement law.

Deputy Bruton asked about administrative sanctions for broader than competition law breaches. He mentioned the use of personal data. This is within the remit of the Data Protection Commissioner. As Deputy Bruton will be aware, matters regarding consumers switching providers in the areas of utilities, insurance and financial services fall to ministerial colleagues with responsibilities related to the regulation of those sectors, namely, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Minister for Finance. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities provides a list of electricity and gas providers with some helpful hints and tips on switching. Comparing insurance prices is more complicated as often insurance contracts cover a range of products, making comparisons more difficult. This is a topic that the Minister of State with responsibility for financial services, credit unions and insurance, Deputy Fleming, has pressed upon the insurance industry, urging more transparency. There is also a useful comparison on the Health Insurance Authority's website where consumers can compare the cost of plans from different insurers for similar benefits.

Comparing prices and using comparison sites, such as those provided by the CCPC, are always sensible steps in order that we can compare not only the prices but also the benefits of each supplier. That is why the CCPC recently launched a consumer information campaign aimed at promoting its free, independent money tools. I encourage consumers to visit the CCPC website, www.ccpc.ie, to avail of these very useful tools, which could end up saving consumers significant amounts of money.

I intend to bring the Deputies' concerns to the attention of my colleagues, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan; the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Sean Fleming; and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath. To reply in particular to Deputies O'Donoghue and McNamara, the powers of ComReg to enforce competition law are affected by this Bill but the legislation does not have any effect on its powers as a sectoral regulator. Those powers remain under the remit of its parent Department, which is the Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications. Many Deputies raised farmers' concerns, especially around beef and pork prices. This Bill will not be the panacea for all the concerns of farmers but it provides for severe financial punishment for any operators in the meat sector found to be in breach of competition law.

In moving this Bill, we believe the powers being given to the CCPC and ComReg as a consequence of the legislation will act as a deterrent to anticompetitive behaviour by enterprise. These powers will help the Government in its efforts to tackle white-collar crime in our economy, which will be of benefit to everybody living and working here. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, looks forward to working with the House during Committee and Report Stages of the Bill, including on any amendments that may be proposed. As mentioned, the Bill underwent pre-legislative scrutiny before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment and it has been drafted to reflect several of the key issues outlined in the committee's report. I hope there can be cross-party support to ensure we get this Bill enacted as soon as possible.

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