Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the House. Like my colleagues on this side of the House, I very much welcome the Bill. In fact, I believe colleagues on both sides will welcome it. It is a sensible Bill. As the Minister said, it has three main purposes. The first of those is the one on which there has been a focus, that is, merging the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority to create the new merged body which will take on the functions of the previous bodies, will be accountable to the Oireachtas and to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, and which is being created as part of the rationalisation plan for State agencies. The Minister has pointed out that the creation of the new Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, which does not quite roll off the tongue yet but I am sure it will eventually, will achieve significant savings. I note also that the Minister today secured Government approval for a further Bill in similar vein, that is, the workplace relations Bill, which will replace the current five workplace relations bodies with two in the same way seeking to deliver savings.

In terms of these mergers, it is not just about the savings. That is probably less important. It is more about seeking to create a more efficient and effective structure, in this case for the protection of consumer rights and, in the case of the workplace relations bodies, to ensure protection for employees in the workplace in particular. I very much welcome that part of this broader reform agenda.

The second purpose for which this Bill is being introduced is to regulate certain practices in the grocery goods sector. Other Senators, particularly Senator Quinn, have focused on that aspect of the Bill.

The third key purpose is to update and modernise the law on media mergers to take account of international best practice and technological developments and to implement some of the recommendations of the 2008 report of the Advisory Group on Media Mergers. Like my colleague, Senator Hayden, I very much welcome the transfer of the functions the Minister has described from his Ministry to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources in that regard, that is, to change the relevant Minister for public interest considerations from the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. That seems a much better home for that aspect of the regulation of the media. I agree with other Senators who made points about the need to ensure regulation of media mergers and to protect against overly concentrated ownership of media in the hands of particular individuals.

I want to focus on the new criminal powers which have been provided for in the Bill. I welcome the Minister's commitment to ensuring white collar crime will be taken seriously. He pointed out that crimes under competition law, like many white collar crimes, are often viewed as victimless crime but they are far from victimless. Every citizen becomes a victim where, for example, serious competition offences such as cartels or price fixing impact upon consumers in terms of higher prices. I welcome, therefore, that we will be seeing increased and enhanced enforcement powers as part of the merger of the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority.

To be fair, the Competition Authority has in its own work generated a change of culture where competition crime has been taken more seriously and has been seen as a more serious breach of our criminal code. It is some years since an expert group looking at company law offences commented that in the case of company and corporate crime, the footsteps of the enforcer are rarely heard on the beat in Ireland. That report led to the setting up of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, and to the much more serious work on enforcing Companies Act crimes. I very much welcome the same commitment being given on competition crimes.

Some of the new powers included that are hugely significant are the powers of authorised officers set out in section 37 in regard to investigations to include powers of search and seizure, the requiring of information, and the power to apply to the court for an order to require people to produce documents, answer questions and so on. Those are central provisions of the Bill which I welcome. I note the Bill also extends some provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2011 to competition offences. It is welcome to see the provisions of that legislation being extended in that way.

I note also that new offences are being created to facilitate the work of the new commission. Section 18 includes an offence not to co-operate with the new commission in a variety of ways, a serious offence that will be punishable on indictment by a fine of up to €250,000 or five years imprisonment. I welcome a commitment in the Bill to tackling white collar crime. Also, the offence of obstructing or impeding of commission staff in section 35 is welcome.

I want to ask about the provision in section 89 which extends the provisions of the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 to serious competition offences. Referring to that aspect of the Bill the Minister said that the implications of the recent European Court of Justice, ECJ, ruling on the relevant EU directive on data retention and our Act in general are being examined. Is it envisaged that amendments will be put to this Bill, because we will run out of time if the aim is to have this Bill dealt with in the Seanad before the end of the session, or will separate legislation be brought forward to amend the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011, given that the implications of the ECJ ruling are broader?