Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I apologise. During Deputy Quinn's time as Minister for Finance inflation was lower and growth was higher than during the tenure of the former Deputy and Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy. I am concerned about the wording of the motion. While I do not dispute the importance of inflation, one of Ireland's problems is the tendency to confuse inflation with competitiveness. The Minister of State attempted to address it in his speech but did not. Inflation is not the only major concern in competitiveness. The most recent report of the National Competitiveness Council reiterates the point that there is some price inflation. I am not sure how it benefits the public for us to be involved in a confusion of three different definitions of inflation. Every study done by every political party shows that ordinary citizens feel prices are rising unfairly and that they are being ripped off.

For example, when the price of oil rose from $55 to almost $80 a barrel, the price of petrol shot up with it. I would love to see the time lag between price increases on the global market and the increase in petrol prices here, and the time lag when the situation reversed and global oil prices fell. That is not about somebody in the economy but about Government regulation and ensuring that genuine competition takes place. The decreasing number of petrol stations throughout the country will mean that most small towns in rural Ireland will be wide open to local rip offs. Before long many parts of Ireland will have only one petrol station and once people have to travel 15 or 20 miles to fill up the tanks of their cars, there will be an incentive for a small adjustment in the margins. It will not be enormous; it could rise from €1 to €1.01 or from 99 cent to €1.01. I am concerned about the impact of the divestment of investment by multinational oil companies which is resulting in large numbers of petrol stations closing. The Government should be more vigilant on that.

Three matters concern me about competitiveness, which is more important than inflation. That is not to diminish inflation, which is a major concern. I have read three reports recently. One is the national report on competitiveness, showing that we are at the bottom of the heap on a range of indices, including e-Government. In respect of the range of services the citizen can access electronically, Ireland is towards the bottom and is slipping further.

We know the story in respect of broadband access. In spite of much wind from the Government, we are in a poor position. This is due to the inept, bungled transfer of a public monopoly to a private monopoly without proper regulation to ensure the latter was not abused. It has been and continues to be abused. It is not even accountable on the Stock Exchange and we know less about how it uses its resources. That is the Government's fault, not for the principle of privatisation — a matter we can discuss another time — but because of the ineptitude of the regulatory regime. On every major dispute, Eircom wins and the regulator loses. That has made a mess of broadband.

Let us consider transport. The present parties in Government inherited a booming economy in 1997.