Catherine Noone (Fine Gael)

I join Senator Marc MacSharry and other speakers in voicing my concerns about the name of our national football and rugby stadium. Unfortunately, we all seem to have taken quickly to referring to it by its new name. If Senator MacSharry's figures are correct, we have more of a right to call it Lansdowne Road Stadium than Aviva does to call it by its new name. I cannot understand why we all - and I include myself in this - took to the new name so easily.

Solutions must be found to the situation at Priory Hall. The provision of hotel accommodation for residents is an acceptable temporary measure, but it will not do in the long term. As Senator Mark Daly argued yesterday, we must demand that NAMA jump into the breach rather than asking or hoping that it will. I urge the Government to apply sufficient pressure to the agency in this regard. It is somewhat ironic that NAMA would not take this approach automatically given that it is developers who make up the sum total of its clientele.

In regard to consumer rights, I welcome the measures unveiled yesterday by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton. Building upon the recently passed EU consumer rights directive, the Minister announced a range of initiatives which will serve to offer further safeguards to consumers. The ban on excessive payment fees, for example, will apply to online transactions and booking fees. This is particularly pertinent in regard to Ryanair and other airlines which have made a point of charging fees far in excess of transaction costs. Under the new provisions, retailers, both online and offline, will not be permitted to charge a payment fee in excess of the cost of the transaction. This is a positive move which will remove any ambiguity in respect of the process.

However, we should bear in mind recent reports of an 800% rise in the cost of card processing faced by some retailers as a consequence of the change from Laser to Visa debit.