Shane Ross (Independent)

Without much apology to the Minister of State or the House, I find this Bill particularly unsatisfactory. I am astounded there has been so much fuss for so long about a Bill of this nature; it is the emperor in new clothes. The reaction to it demonstrates political cowardice. There is a refusal to confront the reality that it will not address the problem. It is a snow job, a smother. This Bill produces yet another quango in order that politicians can tell people not to worry about prices because they have set up a super-quango to deal with them and an agency with a board of a dozen people will look after everyone's interests.

We only have to look at the details in the Bill to see that the agency has no meaningful powers. It takes the powers of the Director of Consumer Affairs but the Director of Consumer Affairs had one major problem — she did not have the power to address any problems. This supersedes the Director of Consumer Affairs with the same powers.

The agency will have other powers and functions, there is a long paragraph in the explanatory memoranda which tells us what the agency can and cannot do. The paragraph is a puff of smoke. It reads:

In addition, the Agency is given specific functions in relation to advising and making recommendations to the Government, Ministers, Ministers of State in relation to any policy or legislative proposals impacting or likely to impact upon consumer protection and welfare. The Section also provides that the Agency may submit proposals to the Government, Ministers, Ministers of State to amend any existing enactment.

I can do the same myself. Any citizen can do that. What great powers are being vested in this agency when anyone walking down Grafton Street can do the same today? It can refer issues to the DPP but in itself the agency is a complete umbrella excuse. The Government is aware, and it is not necessarily to blame, that the price increases, the scandals in the financial services industries, the cartels and the rises in the cost of living cause great public anguish but it is at a loss as to what to do about them. Therefore, it does what all Governments do in this situation, it establishes another agency. This is just another agency that will achieve virtually nothing, like all other agencies that have been set up to tackle consumer problems. They never appear to work.

I have referred to the Director of Consumer Affairs and that was bad enough. She could find out things but then could do nothing about them. She did not have the power to prosecute. This will be the same but there will be a few more people. It will have a board with a chief executive. Who will appoint the board and the chief executive? The Minister of the day. Let us wait and see what happens when the board is appointed, be it by this Government or the next. It will be full of political puppets, like every other agency. They will not, however, all be political puppets, some of them will be other types of puppet: a social partner, a trade unionist, a representative of consumer affairs, a couple of people from the Department and then a few cronies from the Minister's constituency, whoever the Minister is at the time.