Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The Bill before us is very weak from the point of view of consumers. It is too little and too late. My party has highlighted the concerns of consumers with its website, www.ripoff.ie, which was established several years ago. Fine Gael recently launched a new consumer charter to highlight the shocking increases in the costs of household utility bills. The key to ending the rip off in these utilities is by injecting new much-needed competition into these markets and making sure consumers have the protection they deserve by hurting those service providers who do not provide them with a decent level of service.

The proposed charter will compensate consumers who lose their utility service for more than three hours in a 24-hour period by forcing providers to deduct the cost of one day's service from the bill. This applies to electricity, gas, telephone, Internet and cable television providers. It will also limit Government and regulator-driven price increases to at or below the rate of inflation, unless a clear public interest case can be proven. It will also ensure competition in these markets by instigating a full review of how regulation works, merging all non-financial regulators into one powerful, efficient and less wasteful organisation, and taking steps to promote new entrants into markets. It will empower the Oireachtas to force the new regulator to instigate a review of prices when it deems fit. Such a scenario might have prevented the massive increase in gas prices that occurred late last year. It will establish a consumer rights enforcer to replace the weak and toothless NCA.

These measures will put it up to service providers, the Government and the regulatory regime to give consumers the rights and representation they need to get better and cheaper services. Fine Gael has championed the rights of consumers for some years and will continue to do so in the run-up to the general election and beyond, when we will be in government.

Fine Gael will propose a new law to tackle rip-off practices in professional services such as estate agents, dentists, solicitors and insurance brokers. The consumer protection (professional services) Bill will demand greater transparency in pricing, better representation of consumer interests where a conflict of interest exists and introduce tougher fines or demand compensation from service providers that are in breach of the new guidelines. The Bill will also propose to extend the remit of the existing financial services ombudsman to cover professional services. It will protect consumers, put professional services on a proper regulatory footing and punish the minority of practitioners who do not uphold their responsibilities to their clients.

The Bill will impose three key responsibilities on these professions. All providers of professional services covered by the Bill will have a statutory obligation to ensure they employ all reasonable skill, diligence and expertise in the provision of professional services to clients. Where the provider of professional services believes that he or she may have a conflict of interest in respect of a consumer of that service, the provider will have a statutory obligation to alert the consumer in writing within seven working days and to desist from taking any further action on the matter without the consumer's express consent. Remuneration for professional services should be charged on an open, transparent and comprehensible basis and outlined to a consumer in advance in such a manner as to allow the consumer to make an informed choice about the value for money and competitive alternatives available for the service concerned. This will, for example, ensure that doctors and dentists display their prices properly.

The Bill will also provide for the payment of compensation in respect of service that is below a required standard and will provide for penalties and fines to be levied against professional service providers in respect of certain defined offences. To ensure these responsibilities are met, the Bill proposes to extend the remit of the existing financial services ombudsman to cover professional services. The new financial and professional services ombudsman will be a champion for consumers of these vital services and will have the power to order a service provider to pay compensation in respect of the provision of a service to a consumer that is below the standard which should reasonably have been provided or where the service provider otherwise breached these provisions.

These are some of the consumer protection proposals that Fine Gael has made. There is no doubt that the consumer has been ripped off in many areas. I recently read my mother's gas bill. For two months' service it had a €56 or €58 standing charge. A similar charge appears on ESB bills. Although the gas had not been used for a few months, she was charged an additional €19 for having the pilot light on for two months. The consumer is being ripped off in so many areas that we need legislation. However, the legislation before us is not strong enough to protect consumer rights. I urge the Minister to introduce strong amendments if it comes before us again before we go to the country. We need much stronger consumer legislation. We have been discussing rip off for too long. It is time to take action and this Bill does nothing to give consumers adequate protection.