Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

It might have been better if this body were amalgamated with the new national consumer agency to prevent any duplication of functionality.

Since its establishment, the national consumer agency has put in place a highly informative and accessible website which clearly outlines consumers' rights and updates them on relevant consumer news, including developments in regard to PIN number technology for credit and debit cards, customs charges on on-line Internet purchases, hidden charges by banks, telecommunications companies and so on, procedures for switching telephone companies, and details of the €50 million of Dublin Bus refunds that remain unclaimed. These are all worthwhile initiatives.

Senator Coghlan referred to the progress of Fine Gael's campaign on consumer issues. I was delighted when that party followed my initiative in naming and shaming those service providers who do not offer consumers good value. I raised the issue of variations in petrol prices throughout the State, a problem that persists. In the latest edition of the Sunday Independent, for example, we are told that a filling station at Usher's Quay in Dublin is charging €1.35 for a litre of petrol, some 36 cents more than the average price of 99 cents. I wish to alert both the Garda Síochána and the Health Service Executive to this issue because this petrol station is a designated fuelling location for both organisations in the central Dublin area. The price it is charging represent an enormous rip-off that is taking place under our noses.

Why has the national consumer agency not responded to revelations about this petrol station's practices? The agency should take a proactive approach by interviewing those involved to ascertain the circumstances in which any State agency, whether the HSE or the Garda Síochána, can commit themselves to purchase diesel and petrol from this outlet? It is a Statoil station, which company has recently been taken over. This is an important issue. I am surprised there are no members of the national consumer agency in the Chamber today. When a Bill of this nature is being discussed, I would expect a representative to be in attendance.

Senator Coghlan is confident about the Fine Gael strategy on consumers and, in particular, its website, ripoff.ie. However, the information included on this website on taxi prices dates from August 2005, while the cost of disability information relates to November 2005. It seems there has been a lull in which Fine Gael has given up the ghost as far as quality is concerned. Data on fresh food prices were last updated in July 2006. Information on funeral expenses, meanwhile, died a death in July 2005, and car rental figures have not been updated since Christmas 2005. A section detailing news items about rip-off Ireland has not been added to since June 2005. It is case of RIP for rip-off Ireland.