Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Minister of State on bringing forward this Bill. It is one of the most significant overhauls of consumer rights legislation in some time and it is long overdue. What we are doing is embedding many rights but will we give information to people regarding their rights when they get involved in the system? I am sure everybody in this Chamber has signed up for some sort of service and pressed the "agree" button after about three or four pages of text.

Who among us has read every single page of such text, which is normally full of opt-outs for the company to which we are signing over our money and account details? Something needs to be done to embed the rights of consumers in the process so that when they press the "Agree" button, they will actually know what they are signing up to, as opposed to signing up to illegible text. When signing up, there is a danger they might inadvertently sign some of their rights away. Some of the new rights to be enshrined in this legislation regarding digital services, in particular, and also downloads and cloud products are too important not to be given the kind of profile and attention needed.

What additional resources will the CCPC be given to circulate the required information so consumers will be armed with knowledge? Most of us do not know our exact rights and responsibilities until a situation arises. Often when a situation arises, it can result in high stress and lead to very challenging circumstances.

The ComReg figures for the first quarter of this year point to 12,500 contacts, with 4,600 complaints having been made on broadband and mobile telecommunications. I suspect all of us had dealings with one company, in particular, that is just impossible to deal with in respect of customer relations. It is a matter of the extra rights that will be given to consumers. Deputy Sherlock asked whether a consumer who holds back payment will lose the entire service. In many digital contexts, the entire service is essential to daily living. I am referring to the effort to prosecute, for want of a better word, the rights that consumers are to be given under this legislation. There is no sense in having all the rights unless the companies are going to respect them and unless there is a robust regime within the CCPC of defending and backing up consumers and giving them the ability to ensure the rights stand to them.

I have often felt the CCPC is overloaded. It is the competition authority and the consumer protection authority. It was always feared that there would be an overload. We need to ensure that, with this new legislation and the powers that come with it, additional resources will be made available so consumers will know their rights and that when those rights are not being respected, they will have redress under the powers and protection of the CCPC.

What is the likely timeline? Does the Minister intend to have the Bill passed before the summer recess, or will it be passed in the autumn session? Considering the endorsement of the legislation by groups such as Digital Business Ireland and the considerable expansion of online business, including retail business, particularly over the past two and a half years, and the fact that online business will be done daily, the rights are essential. It is essential that businesses, particularly small businesses that do not have the capacity or resources of major multinationals, understand their rights and responsibilities under the legislation. From the start, a campaign must be designed that gives the information required by small businesses, particularly those discovering their way around e-business and e-sales. From the outset, they will need to know their responsibilities in the same way that consumers will need to know their rights.

I commend the Minister for his work on this. It is important that we see this through quickly. It pertains to a space that is changing every day. The digital arena and the services are changing every day and dominating our lives in a way that we could not have imagined even two years ago, never mind 15 years ago or when the last major Bill on consumers was passed. I commend the Minister and wish him well.

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