James Heffernan (Labour)

I welcome the Minister. He has been busy in the Seanad this week and it is good to have him back.

I broadly welcome the Bill, the purpose of which is to strengthen competition law and enforcement through increased sanctions. I hope that the Bill will prove an effective deterrent to white collar crime such as price fixing and cartels, which are not of much benefit to the State or the consumer. Providing conditions in which businesses can continue to thrive through fair competition practices is an imperative, given the situation in which we find ourselves. Fair competition gives businesses an incentive to improve their standards and ensures that the consumer gets the best bang for his or her buck. Any measure that improves services and increases value for money must be welcomed.

As the Minister stated, section 2 of the Bill provides for a significant increase - from €4 million to €5 million - in the fines that can be imposed for hardcore offences. The maximum prison sentence that can be imposed following conviction is to be doubled from five to ten years. I welcome these measures. I also welcome the increase in the level of fines following summary convictions for certain competition offences and the increase in the maximum daily fine that will apply should the offender continue in contravention of the law. These measures will cause people who are considering chancing their arm by engaging in anti-competitive practices to think twice.

As we all know, investigations take time and cost the State a significant amount of money. The Minister cited a good example of this. I welcome the measure whereby, following a conviction, an offender must pay for the cost of the investigation and prosecution. I also welcome the provision whereby, should a small business wish to pursue follow-up action in respect of a proven breach of the competition legislation, it would not need to prove that breach again. This measure will save on costs and time. Most importantly, these changes to the legislation will make it easier for ordinary people and small businesses to make claims against companies that are found guilty of price fixing.

Section 5, which relates to the course of action following an investigation that has found a person or business to have been acting against the law, provides significant deterrents. It also allows for agreements between the Competition Authority and the people or businesses under investigation, subject to a High Court order. Any person or business breaching the High Court order will be held in contempt of court. This is a welcome provision.

Having said that, I have a number of issues with the Bill. Some of these matters were raised by Senators on the opposite side and addressed by the Minister in his speech.

It is regrettable that we are not allowing for the imposition of fines by the courts. The Competition Authority advocated for the provision of civil fines in non-hard core cases. Currently, a person or business found guilty of committing a non-hard core offence cannot be fined. This means that while they may be given a slap on the wrist and instructed to discontinue their anti-competitive practices, no financial sanction can be imposed upon them. The Minister has stated that there is constitutional reason for this. However, the non-imposition of financial sanctions in this regard is unfortunate. Perhaps the Minister will re-examine this during the passage of the Bill.

Another proposal worthy of consideration is that proposed by the Irish Small Business Alliance in its submission on the Bill prior to it coming before this House, namely, the introduction of financial reward for information, such as is provided for in the whistleblower legislation, which would assist in the detection of and investigation into cartels, leading, perhaps, to convictions. I take this opportunity to inform the Minister that I will be unable to attend the meeting in Limerick tomorrow.