asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if in view of the apparently monopolistic price-fixing and other restrictive trade practices of the petrol distributing companies in the Republic, he will direct an inquiry to be held under the Restrictive Trade Practices Act.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price-Fixing by Petrol Companies.
The collective fixing of prices by petrol companies is done on an international basis and it does not seem that we, in this country, can do anything to bring it to an end.
As regards the trade practices of the petrol companies in this country, the Fair Trade Commission has made fair trading rules relating to entry into the retail trade. It is open to the commission to undertake an inquiry into any other aspect of the petrol trade on receipt of representations that practices, alleged to be unfair or contrary to the public interest, are in operation.
Can I take it, then, that the Minister concedes that those petrol companies which operate under the private enterprise system do not operate under the competitive pricing system and, consequently, that we cannot expect a reduction in prices through competitive pricing or through any intervention by him? Consequently, the travelling public and commercial users of transport, persons and goods, must pay any price fixed by the petrol companies outside this State. That is so.
We can take it or leave it alone.