Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Labour Party and Deputies Nash and Bacik for bringing forward this Bill. Before I was ever a politician, competition law was my thing when I qualified as a solicitor so I am very interested in it and generally support what the Deputies are trying to do. The Government is not opposing this.

The purpose of the Bill is to confer additional powers on the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to help in identifying and countering unfair pricing that amounts to abuse of dominance. It is important to remember - I think the Deputies do - that abuse of dominance is a criminal offence. I do not think there is enough discussion of that and I do not hear that from some of the authorities. People always need to be reminded that you can go to jail for competition law breaches.

The objectives of the Bill are in line with the Government's policy of increasing transparency, clarity and fairness for consumers. There are points the Minister thinks warrant consideration. A significant amount of legislation has been introduced in recent years that has increased consumer protections when it comes to purchasing goods and services. Competition law has been introduced that supports a fairer marketplace, tackles anti-competitive practices and enhances the enforcement powers of the CCPC. I have to say, we should never have merged the two functions.

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