Vol. 397 No. 4
16 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties of the Commission of Fair Trade and Consumer Affairs in fulfilling their mandate; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
24 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if his attention has been drawn to the difficulties of the Commission of Fair Trade and Consumer Affairs in fulfilling their mandate; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
39 Mr. McCartan asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if his attention has been drawn to the comments made by the Director of Consumer Affairs in his report published on 2 March 1990 that consumer protection laws were being breached on a wide scale because he did not have the staff or resources to tackle the problem properly; if he intends to allocate additional resources for the Office of Consumer Affairs; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 16, 24 and 39 together. Incidentally, Questions Nos. 16 and 24 are exactly the same. I do not know the point in putting down the same question more than once.
It was because of the lottery system.
An each way bet.
It may be that the lottery syndrome is probably undesirable if it is going to make the Order Paper much fatter.
The lottery syndrome may be on the Government's side.
As the Deputies are aware, control of public service costs is a key factor in this Government's economic strategy. The Department of Industry and Commerce, along with other Government Departments, are subject to restrictions on the recruitment of staff and the filling of vacancies. As a result, my Department have suffered a reduction in staffing levels which has impacted across all sections of the Department, including the Office of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trade.
Against such a background, and in common with all managers in my Department, the Director of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trade must continually review and update procedures, including the setting up of priorities, in order to maximise resources.
Will the Minister comment on the statement by the director that 11 out of 12 restrictive practices orders are being enforced only on a complaints basis and even then in a minimalist fashion? Will the Minister agree that if we are going to have an environment of deregulation, to which his party have committed themselves, more and not less resources will have to be devoted to this task? We cannot proceed on the basis of 11 of 12 competition rules not being enforced particularly at a time when the Minister is proposing a thirteenth in respect of petrol.
I am aware that it is not possible to enforce, as I or the director would wish, all the various provisions which are in force at the moment. In regard to the complaint by the director in his report, which incidentally relates to the year 1988 and is now somewhat out of date, the fact is that there has been a reduction since 1987 of two people in his staff from 25 to 23. That amounts to an 8 per cent reduction at a time when there has been a reduction in the entire Department from 623 to 513, which is a reduction of 18 per cent. In so far as any unfairness or inequity or imbalance has arisen it is that the reductions in the whole of the Department have been very substantially greater than they have been in the Office of Director of Fair Trade.
Would the Minister disagree with the statement in the report that the staff complement devoted to competition has been reduced from 15 to 7 since 1981? Would the Minister further agree to the proposal put to him in this report that a five year development plan be drawn up in consultation between himself and the Office of Fair Trade and Consumer Affairs so that competition rules could be effectively tightened up.
I must advise the Deputy that quotations at Question Time are not in order.
In so far as discussions are concerned I will wait until the director's successor is appointed in June. There would not be much point in having the discussions——
So the 1981 request will have to wait until 1991.
——until the new director is appointed in June of this year. The reduction in numbers is, as I told the Deputy, from 25 to 23, that is much less than the reduction in numbers in every other section of the Department. I do not know what the 1981 figures were but that may well include people who were at that stage whole-time on price control.
It does not.
Surely it is not valid to make a comparison between the overall numbers in the Department and the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs which has to deal with a new and expanding area of work. Would the Minister not agree that the Government should learn a lesson from the row which took place over the Ombudsman's office where a similar report was made by the Ombudsman complaining about lack of resources and that the public and, indeed, this House are not prepared to accept a reduction in the staffing level and the effectiveness of offices which are there to protect the public in matters of consumer affairs or general complaint?
There is no comparison between this and the Ombudsman. In his case the reduction in staff was much greater.
On a point of order, I think the House is taking very lightly the fact that a double question was put down. Surely this is a device to get around the——
The Deputy should have raised that matter at the time.
How do you suggest I raise it, a Cheann Comhairle?
I can assure the Deputy it will be looked into in any event.
Would the Minister agree that in the 1988 report it is a matter of grave concern when the director says that many laws could not be enforced effectively because of shortage of resources? If we keep referring the public to the director's office on the basis that the complaints will be heard, and if he is not in a position to deal with these complaints, of which 19,000 were received in 1988, it does nothing for the respect that would be held for the office of Director of Consumer Affairs.
I agree that it is unsatisfactory that every complaint that is received in the office cannot be dealt with.
I am not saying every complaint.
That is unsatisfactory. I wish it were otherwise but there are not sufficient staff in that office.
He said that many laws cannot be enforced.
There are a lot of things which are at least as important as this which cannot be done in and by my Department, apart from this office, and I regret very much the inability to do those too.
That disposes of questions for today.
