Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I thank the Minister of State again for his comprehensive response to the Bill. He cited the need for EU approval for it because if such legislation were enacted in Ireland, it might not be compatible with EU legislation. However, our legal advice was that approval could be sought post-enactment, not necessarily at the time of publication. Our advice is that this is either not an issue or, if it is, it can be overcome.

I thank the various contributors. Senator Carty said sellers are practical people and offered good advice on how consumers should deal with gift vouchers, but this does not eliminate the problem. There is plenty of good advice at www.consumerconnect.ie but this means trying to get around the problem rather than addressing it.

I thank Senator Callely for his contribution which broadly welcomed the principle of the Bill. He talked about the nonsense connected with gift vouchers. It is that nonsense that prompted my party to introduce the legislation. We believe it is robust, specific and worthy of acceptance. On behalf of Fine Gael, Senator Bradford welcomed the initiative.

The Minister of State said that many retailers are flexible. We know that. As Senator Carty said, many retailers will extend the shelf life of vouchers if a consumer goes back to them. The problem arises because some retailers are not flexible in that regard and will not modify the terms. Trying to deal with such outliers is what prompted this legislation. In 75% to 90% of the time the situation is fine and there is no problem with the retailers. We wished to deal with an acknowledged problem, one that has been discussed for years in many fora, most recently on Joe Duffy's radio programme.

The Minister of State said he intended to make regulations which will deal with some aspects but he has not committed to dealing with the shelf life issue and stated there might be a problem associated with it. In addition, there is no timeline for taking such action. The Minister of State may come back to it in 2011 and address some of the issues but this does not deal with the issue.

Senator Boyle supported the principle of the Bill because of the need to correct the problems. He agreed with the need to do something but wondered if this were the way to do it and had some sympathy with the Minister of State's position. I thank my colleagues in the Labour Party for their commitment and their contributions to the debate.

This legislation is necessary. It needs to be enacted soon. This has been a problem for too long and the Minister of State should be aware that it is happening in other jurisdictions. The United States and Canada have moved to address it. There are no examples of Europe moving to address it yet but that does not mean we cannot lead the way in terms of what needs to be done in Europe.

The Consumer's Association of Ireland has given much good advice which I will not repeat here but in the context of the problem, people must be careful. This is a time when people will purchase gift vouchers and we would advise them to be very careful and to keep receipts. The Bill we propose is based on what we have identified as a need in this area. I rest my case.