Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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76. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of vacant WTE staff by job title at the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission as of 3 July 2024; the estimated full year cost of filling each of the vacancies; and the timeframe for which these vacancies will be filled, in tabular form. [30053/24]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the statutory body responsible for enforcing consumer protection and competition law in Ireland.

The CCPC remit continues to expand with recent legislation agreed at EU level designed to further strengthen protections for consumers and fairness in the operation of online markets. This includes the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Digital Markets Act (DMA), as well as the CCPC being designated as the competent authority for the Data Governance Act (DGA) and designated as the market surveillance of certain products and checking the compliance of services under the European Accessibility Act (EAA). There has been significant additional competition and consumer enforcement powers given to the CCPC by way of legislation such as the Competition Amendment Act which represents the biggest overhaul of competition law in Ireland for a generation. This enhances the ability of the CCPC to tackle cartels, bid rigging in public procurement, anti-competitive practices, and anti-competitive mergers. The Consumer Rights Act 2022 represents the most significant reform of consumer protection law in Ireland in the last 40 years. It updates and strengthens existing Irish consumer law relation to the sale of goods and supply of services, unfair contract terms and consumer information and cancellation rights.

The CCPC’s funding has increased in recent years in light of these additional functions. The CCPC has been allocated €25.7million for 2024.

As of 3 July 2024, the CCPC had 48 vacancies. The CCPC has informed my officials that it is making significant recruitment efforts, for example 26 of these vacancies are currently in the recruitment process. Please see below for further details of the vacancies in the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission: