Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 67: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason there was a 20% increase in the grant to the Competition Authority for 2006; if such an increase will lead to an increase in activities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18215/06]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Competition Authority's budget allocation for 2006 was increased primarily to provide additional resources for the cartel enforcement division. Seven new posts were approved and a staff recruitment campaign is currently under way. This will result in a doubling of the authority's staff for investigating cartels.

I expect that once the new posts are filled, the authority will be in a position to build on its recent successes in the criminal courts where, in one cartel case alone, it has secured 15 convictions to date through prosecutions brought by the DPP, with further trials pending. These are the first criminal convictions on indictment ever secured in Ireland, or indeed in the European Union, for competition law offences.