Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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1181. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her actions, as lead Minster with responsibility for consumer protection, and the actions or agencies under her control to monitor and safeguard consumers from escalating costs in many areas; her powers to ensure consumers are protected from excessive price increasers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9859/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The most recent CSO figures (for the 12 month period to April 2016) show that prices in April, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, were 0.1% lower than those in April 2015. The most significant monthly price changes for April 2016 were increases in Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (+0.9%), and Restaurants & Hotels (+0.7%). There were decreases in Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance (-0.5%) and Communications (-0.4%). The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the statutory body responsible for the enforcement of competition and consumer protection law in the State as well as advocating on behalf of consumers, with particular functions in areas such as research, information, advocacy, awareness and information for consumers. The CCPC website is continually updated to reflect latest advice for consumers to allow them make informed choices, while public awareness campaigns are run to address specific issues as they arise.

The Deputy will be aware that the Competition Authority (one of the bodies that make up the current CCPC) has published a number of reports resulting from studies it carried out on various sectors or professions since 2004. The reports usually contain a suite of recommendations, aimed at improving competition in the relevant area and are addressed to the responsible Government Department or body. Responsibility for any proposals aimed at ending apparent restrictions on competition in a particular sector rests with the Minister with responsibility for that particular policy area.

Given the responsibility of my Department for competition policy in general and for consumer protection, I will continue to urge my Government colleagues to ensure that everything is done to help improve price competitiveness in their areas of responsibility, thereby supporting economic growth and job creation.