Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

We have definitively come to the view that it would be wrong to go down the criminal route in terms of the range of offences for which we are providing. We looked at this in advance and took advice from the Attorney General, the Parliamentary Counsel and so on and the policy view is that in terms of "hello money" transgressions, advertising transgressions or resale price maintenance, the civil process is better and reflects the gravity of those offences better than a criminal sanction. In fact, people have criticised the length of time it takes to prosecute serious cartel operations in the State to which significant criminal sanctions attach. It can take years to prove many of those cases. There an advantage here for the small operator, in particular, to get quicker redress by taking a civil action.