Speaking before Question Time, I said this Bill is one of the most important to come before this House for a very long time. The actual passing of the Bill must not, of course, be the end of it. The Bill is a civil measure and, in order to be really effective, it must have the full backing of the whole community. I suggest that in the many women's clubs all over the country arrangements should be made to discuss the provisions of this Bill—perhaps a politician or someone expert in this kind of legislation could be invited to address these clubs—so that people will be fully instructed and educated as to their rights and thereby reap the full benefits of this measure. Implementation will depend much more on the people themselves than it will on the Director of Consumer Affairs. This is a consumer charter of rights. Earlier legislation in the last century was enacted in a atmosphere of caveat emptor—let the buyer beware—but, in this sophisticated age, a different approach is called for. Very often people neglect to read what is called the small print and then, when things go wrong, advantage is taken of them because they do not have the resources with which to fight. Under this Bill they will be given a weapon to ensure they get the standards they seek. Unless the people support the Bill fully, it will not be possible to implement it properly.
I can see this Bill having a very important influence. I can see it being an instrument which will lower the cost of living. For too long people have paid too much for inferior goods. Under this Bill that need no longer be the case because they are being provided with an instrument for their own protection. I do not pretend that all traders are "baddies" and all consumers are "goodies". But the dice is loaded at present against the consumer especially where goods are in short supply.
Here, I must say a word about toys now that we are approaching Christmas. Parents purchase toys, parents who can ill afford the prices charged, and very often the toys do not survive beyond Christmas day. It is not the unscrupulous trader who is blamed by the child. The child blames Santa Claus. This Bill will give protection now particularly to parents in the lower income groups so that they cannot be exploited as they have been up to this.
We do not see this Bill as the end of the road. As the Minister said, having seen the Bill work, we will then know what further legislation will be required. In these days of inflation people must be given every protection when they buy goods or seek services.
I suppose the Director of Consumer Affairs will be our first ombudsman. I believe the people themselves will have infinitely greater power than any director of consumer affairs. When traders come to recognise that they are dealing with a very intelligent and very vigilant people who will not buy inferior goods, life will become much better for us all. In these days, when morality is not at its highest, the opportunity is there for the wheeler-dealers and the unscrupulous who are only too ready to exploit the innocent and unsuspecting. We will never, of course, achieve a perfect society but we are striving towards that end and, in striving, we must ensure that our legislation is the very best we can produce. Legislation can only be effective if it is implemented.
Many people can afford to buy motor cars or televisions but everybody must buy essentials such as footwear. The shops have been flooded with foreign footwear and it is hard to get redress from the manufacturer if the shoe is badly made. Consumers can of course get redress from the retailer. It is up to the retailer not to buy inferior foreign goods. I have often been assured that a product is Irish made although no label to that effect was attached to the product. I just had to take the shopkeeper's word for it. This sort of thing should be covered in the Bill and it might help the "Buy Irish" campaign.
Motor cars are very numerous on the roads these days and they can be lethal if they are not in good order. I am glad the Bill covers motor vehicles. Some sellers of motor cars reduce the mileage on the clock so as to get a better price for the car and previously the buyer just had to accept that he had been codded. This Bill deals fully with this type of case.
In relation to house purchasing I know that a certificate of reasonable value is required for a new house, but no such certificate is required for a secondhand house. Some people sell houses in an unscrupulous manner, they demand an exorbitant price for a house which may be full of damp and dry rot. Very often tragedy can be brought to a family who have invested in a house, when they find that they would need to spend as much again to make the house habitable as they spent to buy it. There are many reputable firms dealing in house purchase and they give a good service to clients but there are some unscrupulous dealers.
Another example of unscrupulous dealing is where a young couple, for instance, buy furniture and later find it is useless, that it keeps falling apart. We should use the intelligence that God gave us when we are purchasing anything whether it is a service or an article, but it is not always easy for a harassed mother who goes into the city to buy household articles to ensure that she is getting a top quality article. It will be a terrible battle to eliminate unscrupulous dealing. I do not wish to blacken the retail trade because many reputable firms give the purchaser a fair deal and if a customer is not satisfied they will give refunds but up to now this was merely because of the goodwill of the firm.
Shops often display notices saying that once goods have been purchased they cannot be returned. This would tend to warn people against buying in that shop but if all stores displayed such notices the purchaser must buy from them.
Human nature being what it is there will always be people who wish to make a quick "buck" from some unsuspecting person. It is the duty of the State to protect the consumer from exploitation. This Bill was introduced to give the consumer every possible protection and we should inform the people that this Bill enacted will be ineffective unless it is used by the people. If there is to be fair trade the consumer must ensure the implementation of this Bill. That is why I appealed to the women's organisations particularly to discuss this Bill at their meetings so that through their local TDs their views can be considered between now and Committee Stage. I cannot guarantee that the Bill will be amended in accordance with their views although I am sure we will get some useful advice and suggestions from them.
We have been somewhat lackadaisical in relation to demanding our rights when purchasing goods. I see this Bill as being a charter for the consumer. Since the 1893 Act was passed the whole concept of trading has changed. The 1893 Act was passed to deal with a totally different society, a society where there was colossal affluence in a small section and frightful poverty in the other sections. At the time, the Act served its purpose but the needs are different now. The standard of living has risen for all the people and purchasing powers are greater. That purchasing power should be used for the common good. We cannot afford to buy shoddy articles and we cannot afford to make a great gap in a family income because a family has unwittingly purchased inferior goods. It is no comfort to a breadwinner to find that his salary which cannot keep his family in at least frugal existence, has gone to unscrupulous dealers. Those who buy from certain traders and are caught out have only themselves to blame to a great extent because those fly-by-night traders are unscrupulous. They fool many people while well established shops and department stores give a good return. However, such stores may have unwittingly purchased some inferior goods.
We have often read stories in newspapers of certain articles being deemed to be dangerous to children or adults or of certain articles being found to have a flaw in them when being manufactured. I mention those points to indicate how essential it is for us to be ever vigilant in this regard. I am not urging the Minister to adopt draconian measures against those who break the consumer laws but a person who deliberately sells inferior quality goods must be prosecuted and, if found guilty, punished. The best way such people can be punished is by consumers refusing to buy goods from them. They would then be left with faulty goods. In my view we would then improve the general standard of manufacture which would lead to a happier society. If this Bill is supported by the people it will be a great instrument and, in fact, it could help reduce the cost of living, something of which we are all conscious. Wages and salary earners make no provision in their housekeeping budgets for buying faulty goods but if a person is unlucky enough to purchase a faulty item he is obliged to purchase another article.
I accept that reputable insurance companies play fair with all people but very often certain facts stated in small print result in people not being adequately covered by insurance. In many cases this means tragedy to families. The Minister has gone out of her way to help consumers and she is deserving of the support of the women of the country. They should be vigilant and demand their rights at all times. Where a guarantee is given they should ensure that it is a legal guarantee. We have often heard of guarantees being given which mean little or nothing. Unless legislation like this is used by the people our efforts to get at the unscrupulous trader will be unsuccessful and that would be a great tragedy.
There has been a great need for rationalisation since the first Act was introduced. I was pleased to note that now a person can be prosecuted for not giving a proper guarantee. The provisions in the Bill were well researched and account was taken of experience in this line in other countries. It is not a hurried Bill. The Coalition introduced a Bill but it was not passed by the House and since then Fine Gael attempted to introduce a similar Bill. However, both pieces of legislation could be described as lawyers' Bills. We do not want such pieces of legislation; we want our laws to be understood by the people. It should be easy for them to understand their rights when purchasing goods. I was pleased to note that the Bill has been welcomed by the Opposition. People can now see that we are in earnest in our efforts to help them in this regard.
It is good to know that whether one is buying a motor car, a pair of shoes or a suit one has protection under this Bill. Such protection is welcome at a time when the Third World is developing industrially because I have no doubt that mistakes will be made in this early stage of their development, just as occurred during the industrial revolution here and in Europe. Crude articles will be put up for sale. I believe that advertising campaigns will be stepped up. It is hard to resist the temptation to buy certain articles after looking at advertisements on television because they are put over in such an attractive way. I am often suspicious of certain products advertised on television by eloquent and persuasive people. We are all aware of the product which we are told can wash things whiter than white but I have often asked myself if the product is clean. It may look whiter than white but the real test is to see if the article washes cleaner, clichés like this are used all over the place. We must remember that the people of 1893 had no such propaganda directed at them. Times were simpler then; yet at that time the Government found it necessary to give some protection to consumers. In today's sophisticated society, when we are encouraged by advertisements on television and radio and in the newspapers to buy goods, how much greater therefore is the need for a code of behaviour and even morality in the selling of goods?
I do not wish to encourage the belief that because we enact a Bill here the rest will be plain sailing. Unless the people are vigilant and demand higher standards this Bill will be wasted. This would be a great pity because it has been very well drafted. It has covered all the important aspects of the consumer-seller relationship. I have no doubt that many reputable dealers and traders will also welcome this Bill: it would be very wrong to portray the traders as baddies and the rest of us as goodies. There is no such thing. I want to stress that we have excellent sales organisations here, departmental stores and small shops. Some of these people may unwittingly be selling inferior goods and the customer should refuse to buy such goods. That would be the most effective corrective. The passing of this Bill, with the cooperation of the public and of the manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, will help to build up here a good marketing atmosphere. A person going into a shop to buy goods will know that he is getting value for money and that he is not being fooled or cheated by the people selling the goods to him. This is the whole purpose of the Bill.
On Committee Stage I hope to speak again on this and to examine in detail the various provisions. Now, when the Bill is having a Second Reading, is the time for the attention of the public to be drawn to it. The public should look forward to the enactment of this Bill as something which will be of tremendous value to the whole community in so far as it affects the standard of living of families; and it surely will do this, because none of us is paid so much that we can afford to buy shoddy articles. Families in the lower income bracket in particular cannot possibly afford to buy shoddy goods. Their lives are hard enough trying to meet everyday needs for themselves and their children without having to contend with this as well.
People may say that the penalties laid down in this Bill for breaches of the law are not sufficient. I think they are sufficient, because they will demonstrate to sellers who have been unscrupulous that we are serious about this matter. I hope that because of this Bill we will have a happier climate in relation to the sale of goods. There are various changes effected by the Bill. For instance if one does buy an inferior article it is easier now to get a refund than it was before. A new era has begun for the traders. They should now establish, not a complaints department, but a corrective department whereby if they make a mistake the customer can go in and have his money refunded or the article he bought replaced by one of good standard.
Advertising has been brought to such a fine art nowadays in persuading people to buy that we should also ensure that buyers of big firms will buy only the best goods to offer to their customers. The old motto of caveat emptor, let the buyer beware, perhaps suited the Victorian morality. I do not want to suggest that our standards of morality are any better than those of the Victorians but today, although it is on a totally different basis, the morality is still the same—we should not rob our neighbour. The point is that this Bill comes as the 20th century charter for consumers.
In conclusion, I want to thank the Minister and the Minister of State for the drafting of the Bill and for all the care and preparation that has gone into it. I appeal to the women of this country to take this Bill very seriously, to discuss it in their clubs and to let us have their reactions to it and their suggestions for any improvements that can be made. This is not the end of the road in this type of legislation. We may have to look at it in a few years' time when this Bill has had a chance to work and we have learned something from it. It may be necessary then to bring in another Bill. But I would welcome the comments of the women's clubs in relation to the Bill.
