Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I will not be pressing the amendment.

It has to be referred somewhere - perhaps the Economic Management Council of the four senior Ministers. I do not envisage these reforms being made unless there is pressure somewhere else. I used to serve as a Government representative on the National Economic and Social Council; I wonder if it can do anything. I am not satisfied about how Competition Authority recommendations are being set aside. It is more than ten years since it recommended the abolition of the conveyancing monopoly, yet that is still there and it has survived the recent Legal Services Bill that was before the House. The problem at those ports is that the insiders are quite happy and it needs an outsider to shake them up in some way. I would be delighted to think that the Oireachtas committees could instruct Dublin Port and the other ports that have these restrictive practices to get their act together. They were not allowed because of the Stock Exchange takeover rules, but they never properly discussed the IAG takeover of Aer Lingus, which results in a monopoly over the 1.6 million passengers on the Dublin to Heathrow route. There was universal scepticism at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications about postcodes, and our view was endorsed by the Comptroller and Auditor General, given that €38 million was spent on a postcode system that hardly anybody uses. The committee was unanimous in its opposition, but we are not allowed to take votes. I do not share the Minister's optimism. There is no evidence that people take a blind bit of notice the views of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. On two important issues it proved to be toothless. In one it was not allowed any say at all, and in the other it was right but the policy proceeded anyway and €38 million was spent.

I do not envisage operators of restrictive practices coming out with their hands up and saying, "The Competition Authority report is quite right. We must give up the hoary old restrictive practices." It will be an agenda item for the next Government and the next Oireachtas. How do we reform institutions? This one was obviously dominated by getting the finances into order. That has been a success and everybody commends the Government on that. However, many of the institutions of the permanent government are not working and need prodding from the elected representatives.

I thank the Minister for his reply. I will look at alternative ways to secure those reforms.