Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will appreciate that the proposals published by my Department on 25 May are contained in the Scheme of a Bill issued for public consultation and not in a Bill that has been submitted to and approved by Government. The Scheme of the proposed Bill deals with the rights of consumers and the obligations of traders in contracts for the supply of goods, digital content and services. Under Irish law, the enforcement of contractual rights has been, and will remain, a matter primarily for the parties to the contract. That is why it is important that the rights of consumers and the remedies available to them if those rights are breached are set out in a manner that is clear and comprehensible. Though the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission cannot act directly on behalf of individual consumers in contractual disputes, it has an important public enforcement role in ensuring that traders do not apply contract terms which contravene the provisions of consumer legislation or engage in practices contrary to this legislation. In the case of a contract for the supply of goods, such as for petrol or diesel, the Scheme provides that the consumer would, among other remedies, have a right within a period of 30 days after the supply of the goods to terminate a contract and receive a full refund of the price where goods are not in conformity with the specified quality and other requirements. The statutory remedies provided for in the Scheme are expressly said to be without prejudice to the right of the consumer to pursue other remedies, in particular damages. Under section 74 of the Consumer Protection Act 2007, a consumer aggrieved by a misleading or other practice prohibited by the Act has a separate right of action for damages, including exemplary damages, against a trader who commits or engages in a misleading or other prohibited practice. Where a trader is convicted of an offence under the Act, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission may, on behalf of an aggrieved consumer, also apply to the court for a compensation order requiring the trader to pay the consumer an amount of money that the court considers appropriate in respect of any loss or damage to the consumer resulting from the offence.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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There have been no prosecutions of fuel traders under the Consumer Protection Act 2007 for breaches of the Act in supplying contaminated fuel such as stretched petrol or laundered diesel. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission which is responsible for the enforcement of the Act is, like its predecessor the National Consumer Agency, independent in the exercise of its enforcement role - a role over which I, as Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, have no direct statutory function.