Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 109: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps she will take along with her colleagues in the EU concerning oil price manipulation and its impact on the price of motor fuel. [30074/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, my concerns in relation to fuel and oil are based on consumer and competition aspects of their markets.

From a consumer angle, the House will recall that during 2008, I requested the National Consumer Agency to undertake a survey into the underlying reasons as to why pump prices for petrol and diesel were appearing not to fall in line with the drop in the wholesale price of oil. As part of its work, the Agency benchmarked movements in prices in Ireland against those in other EU countries and it examined the frequency and the timeliness in which changes in the wholesale price were being passed on to consumers. The agency's report on this matter was published on 19 December 2008. The report's overall finding was that, at national level, price changes for refined petroleum products are being passed on to consumers in a relatively timely fashion. The report noted in particular, that the prices that Irish retailers charge for oil products relate to the refinery price rather than to the price of crude oil. The refinery price for oil products varies with demand and does not always move in line with crude oil prices. There is a time lag between movements in crude prices and refined prices.

The agency's report also identified the need to improve the manner in which information on petrol and diesel prices in Ireland is collected, analysed and publicised. Currently, the vertically integrated oil companies provide oil price statistics to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources on a monthly basis. These prices are published by the European Commission in its weekly Oil Bulletin.

The timeliness and quality of oil price statistics reported by all member states has been the subject of consultation by the Commission, who concluded that the current regime did not facilitate proper comparisons between member states. I understand that the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is working with the European Commission and the Irish oil industry to improve the transparency and relevance of price statistics both in Ireland and as published in the EU oil price bulletin.

From a competition point-of-view, as the Deputy is aware, the Competition Authority is the statutory body responsible for the enforcement of competition law in the State. Section 29 (3) of the Competition Act 2002 provides that the Competition Authority is independent in the performance of its functions. Under section 30(1)(b) of that Act, the Competition Authority is responsible for investigating any breach of the Act. As investigations are part of the day-to-day operational work of the Authority I have no direct function in the matter.

If the Deputy has evidence of anti-competitive practices in this or in any other sector I urge him to bring this evidence to the attention of the Competition Authority.