Feargal Quinn (Independent)

My position on this issue is rather similar to that of Senator Bradford. When I first heard of this equalisation scheme, I regarded it as pure protectionism, aimed at stifling competition. On first reading the Minister's speech with regard to the draft risk equalisation scheme, I misread "draft" as "daft" and was overjoyed that the Minister was on our side. In fact, I have changed my mind.

I listened carefully to the debate. I grew up in a business in which we encouraged competition in every case. I accept the examples we have heard about today, that what happened when we introduced competition, particularly into the airline business, has benefited everybody. Yet we heard for years that there should not be open competition in one particular field or another for various reasons.

My first experience of having to put in stipulations regarding competition was when I was in An Post. I discovered that if we allowed total competition, then the low cost operator would only compete when it suited. In other words, the couriers would deliver in Dublin city at the same rate but would never have delivered in the countryside where one gets a letter once a month. I realised that this question of open competition needs to be a little tenuous. Maybe we have to consider that there is a difference and there are occasions when we have to take something into account. It seems that community rating must take this into account. Therefore, when I looked at whether we should be encouraging competition, I realised that there may have to be a different solution under certain circumstances.