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

No, she was on the criminal law side, although it is criminal law - it is as simple as that - because you can be jailed or fined and the EU has very significant powers as well for bigger businesses. We all want to see, because if prices go up, and I know tariffs were mentioned being used as an excuse and all of that and some of these are issues, but the reality is, as Deputy Donnelly said, that prices go up but we never see them come down, except in certain products. When it is an input into a product, it is always difficult to see how the price will come down. That is one of the reasons we must stand firm on tariffs because there is no question that they will lead to price increases all through society. The Deputy is right that we will never see prices come down again, so we must really work hard on tariffs, energy prices and changing our energy sources to make sure we have a more robust system.

Deputy Bacik mentioned the price of coffee, and it has risen. I looked at the market prices of coffee from South America or Africa and it has risen fivefold in recent years. There have been major price increases globally for various reasons and that can include supply chain issues. The Houthis in Yemen have a direct impact on consumer prices. Oil prices have a huge impact, as does general instability in the world. A lot of what we are doing at international level, whether it is ourselves through the UN or the EU, has a trickle-down effect because prices are very sensitive to international instability.

I look forward to this Bill progressing. The Department has set out some of the issues it believes it has with the Bill but it does not seem that any of those could not be fixed by amendments on Committee Stage. Those areas would need to be examined to make sure this Bill is proportionate and benefits consumers but also businesses, some of whom can be victims as well-----

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