John Kelly (Labour)

I welcome the Minister to the House. The Bill is well intended and the intention is to increase fines and imprisonment where convictions are delivered. I am also aware that the Bill forms part of structural reforms agreed under the EU and IMF memorandum of understanding. Is it enough and will it deal with the issue? I am not sure of this, but I appreciate it sets out to strengthen our position.

The Competition Authority was formed in 1991 and in the 21 years since then, there have only been 32 convictions, while no custodial sentence has been handed down. I went on the record years ago to say that I thought cocaine use was rife in rural Ireland, but the evidence today is that cartels are rife in Ireland. Adequate funding needs to be given to the Competition Authority which only has two gardaí operating at the moment. According to a former head of the Competition Authority, Dr. John Fingleton, anti-competitive practices cost the Irish economy €4 billion per annum. That is a major issue and could turn our economy around if we were able to tackle it adequately.

I agree with the sentiments expressed by other Senators that we should look at introducing civil fines. I appreciate we have advice from the Attorney General that we cannot do it, but surely the Supreme Court could ultimately decide whether we can do it. The Office of Fair Trading in the UK provides whistleblowers with £100,000 to come up with information that brings about convictions. I suggest we consider something like this. We could give €150,000 to a whistleblower to provide information that would, ultimately, assist the consumers of Ireland.

It is impossible for an ordinary person affected by sharp practices to take a case against companies found liable and who go through the courts system. I am aware of one man who has been trying for 16 years to sue a company that has been convicted of anti-competitive practices. The system is not in place to permit people to take cases in such situations.

I have no doubt this Bill will pass in its current form, but we should put a time limit on it and see how effective it has been. If we only have another 32 convictions in 21 years and if the system proves to be as ineffective as it was, we should look at the measures I am suggesting, namely, civil fines and rewards for whistleblowers.