Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and commend Senator Ryan on his research ahead of this Bill and on introducing it in the House. It is one of those issues that exercises everyone's mind at one stage or another. Unfortunately, when we get over the initial reaction to an individual situation, we tend to move on and forget about the problem's root cause.

This matter affects us all. No one in the House has not been affected by the manner in which shelf life has been applied to vouchers. It is unjust and unfair and should be illegal. As a consequence of a booming economy, people realised that this would be the case and were cognisant of the fact that if they issued vouchers with a shelf life for their goods, the money spent buying the voucher was no longer legal tender after six months, 12 months or two years. I was rifling through a list of the companies and outlet stores that apply shelf life and those that do not. Quite a number do not apply any expiry date, which is welcome, but others apply dates of two years, 12 months or, in many cases, as little as six months.

We are living in straitened times and a difficult budget was just announced in the Lower House. In the past two years, we have come to learn that disposable income has diminished and people have lost their jobs, with a consequential reduction in their income levels. After this budget, basic social welfare rates will be cut by 4%. It will be said of the budget that pensioners were left alone, but that is wrong. They were the first group singled out by the Government in the supplementary budget that abolished the Christmas bonus, equating to a 2% reduction in the rate of the old age pension. Considering all of the above, it must be borne in mind that people have less disposable income than they used to. It is incumbent on the Government to consider the Bill's merit and outlaw some of the activity that is robbing more money from people's pockets.

This entire matter relates to consumer issues and the rural economy. I spoke to a lady last week who said she generally used the Christmas bonus to buy Christmas presents for her grandchildren. That bonus is now lost to the local rural economy because it no longer exists. That is a considerable loss to this economy. If one replicates that throughout many other towns and villages, one will find the local economy suffers. It is not as if people used to save that kind of money. They did not but used it for expenditure particular to the season.

The Government must take the issue on board. This kind of practice is unfair and unjust. The evidence suggests that it is those on lower and middle incomes who are the victims in this situation. We can offer examples of corporate fraud, areas where checks and balances were not in place and the consequent fall-out from that lack of regulation. We can look at where it did not work. This is one area where it might. The Government should look at the merit of this Bill and take it on board. It would be an enormous shot in the arm for people at this time of year. There must be sanctions, too, for people who take advantage of the fact that vouchers may not be redeemed.

I apologise for missing the Minister of State's opening comments. I have no doubt they were congratulatory of the Bill. As he is a fair-minded person like the rest of us, I am sure the Minister of State supported it. I hope he will see his way to flexing his ministerial muscle and ensuring this will become Government policy.