Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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141. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent of measurement by her Department or State bodies under her Department's remit of market concentration in various consumer markets here; and the current level of market concentration as measured by an index (details supplied) or some other measure in each of the cases (details supplied) that come under her Department's remit. [42757/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the statutory independent body responsible for the enforcement of domestic and EU competition law in the State.

Market concentration is a useful proxy measure for assessing the levels of competition in a market and it is used on a case by case basis when required by the CCPC to carry out its functions. The CCPC assesses market concentration using the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) as it provides an initial indication whether a market seems to be concentrated and could pose a potential competitive concern, where further economic assessment is required.

In this regard, HHI can be used by the CCPC when assessing whether mergers and acquisitions are likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in any market for goods or services in the State. HHI can also be used by the CCPC as part of a market study or when assessing potential breaches of competition law as an initial indicator of the levels of competition in a market. The HHI was applied by the CCPC as part of a wider economic analysis on the level of competition for CCPC studies covering the household waste collection market (2018) and in the mortgage market (2017).

Section 9 (5) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 provides that the Commission is independent in the performance of its functions. I, as Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, have no direct function in relation to the day-to-day operational work of the Commission.