Ivor Callely (Fianna Fail)

I welcome my good friend and colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Billy Kelleher, to the House. I also welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate on the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2010 and very much appreciate the Minister of State's openness in the latter part of his contribution in which he indicated to the House what is coming. I support much of what the previous speaker said about the outline of that legislation. It will be very important and its title will be along the lines of the consumer and competition Bill. More importantly, the clarity of its content will be very significant. I gather, from inquires I have made with the Department, that it will be sizeable legislation. I understand that currently there are in the region of 140 sections, which means there will be a sizeable measure of detail. I look forward to participating in the debate when the Bill comes to the House.

It was useful that the Minister of State indicated to the House what was coming because it puts the legislation before the House into greater context. This is a very short Bill which is focused and narrow in its scope. One can now understand why that is so, especially after hearing what the Minister of State had to say about the current format of the Competition Authority, its board membership and so forth.

The Bill is prompted by a number of recent departures of members of the Competition Authority. The membership had dropped below its minimum permitted level and this situation warranted immediate correction. It is crucial that the authority, given its importance, is properly constituted in accordance with the Act. We all appreciate that the Competition Authority is very specialised in its work, dealing as it does with issues such as mergers, monopolies, cartels and so on. It is vital the performance and operation of the authority are not subject to any level of uncertainty. The amendment to section 35 of the Competition Act 2002, as provided by this Bill, will safeguard the authority's workings and its decision making. This is necessary since the current legislation does not properly provide for the situation that has arisen where a number of vacancies present at short notice. The Act states that all appointments at member level must by way of a Public Appointments Service, PAS, competition. It takes time to organise such a competition. I am not fully familiar with the methodology but I presume there are procedures in place and each step must be adhered to. None the less, I like to believe we can fast-track such procedures. Even if we do and the successful candidates are identified and are willing to serve, I presume they will have to undergo a procedure following the successful competition. They will also have to give notice arising from existing commitments and so forth. I certainly understand where the Minister of State is coming from when he says this could take some time to organise and that the Bill before us is required to accommodate events.

It is envisaged that the appointment of members under the legislation will be short-term, especially in light of the forthcoming Bill. This will be a complex legislation and I do not know when it will be passed. That means we do not know how long that piece of string will be just yet. The Minister for State said the appointment of members under the Bill before the House would be short-term, for a defined period and would conclude when whole-time members were appointed under the open PAS competition. There are not too many options in this regard and I presume this is the most appropriate way to go.

Why do we find ourselves in this position? We are learning every day, so if people either leave, become ill, die or whatever, vacancies will arise. I hope the new consumer and competition Bill will adequately provide in the event of issues arising. It is the common lot of humanity to learn from previous experience.

The proposed legislation provides for the amendment of section 35 of the Competition Act 2002 to allow for the appointment of the temporary members, including the chair, and to fill a vacancy in the authority's membership arising from death, retirement, resignation, disqualification and removal from office, as the Minister of State indicated. While the requirement to appoint a member, following the PAS competition, may be dispensed with to avoid any doubt, the Bill provides that the Minister, if he so desires, may continue to fill any such vacancy through the PAS recruitment process. I gather these temporary appointments are for a maximum period of six months which may be extended for a further six months. It is intended that the provision allowing for the extension of the appointment would be used only in specific circumstances. This would be where either the PAS recruitment or the selection process has not been finalised or the successful candidate is not in a position to take up the appointment within the defined period.

I gather from the information available that appointees to these temporary posts must possess sufficient expertise or experience of one or more of the following areas: law, economics, public administration, consumer affairs and business generally. The Bill also provides that a temporary appointee is eligible for appointment as a whole-time member within the authority unless he or she has been removed in accordance with the existing provision of section 35(12) of the Act.

This is a very focused and short Bill. It is something we would all sign into and I do not foresee any difficulty. We would all want to ensure the Competition Authority is able to perform its duties and that there is no question of any doubt in relation to challenges or any other issues of which we may not yet be aware.

I welcome what the Minister of State has done and I wish him well. I hope we shall pass this Bill quickly and move on. I look forward to the Minister of State coming back to the House with the new legislation he announced.