Vol. 517 No. 3
84 Mr. Gregory asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the issues raised in the submission to her Department by the Quarry and Concrete Family Alliance; her response, if any, to these issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9868/00]
I met representatives of the Quarry and Concrete Family Alliance on 21 February last. The alliance raised issues related to quarry owners who had lost their business as a result of practices in the quarry and concrete business which they considered to be unfair and to constitute an abuse of a monopoly position. It expressed the view that the Competition Authority was not able to investigate this issue properly due to lack of resources. The alliance also expressed particular concern about the beneficial ownership of a number of companies.
I recently announced the appointment of a new chairman and member in the Competition Authority and other appointments, both at professional and non-professional level, will follow. In addition, my Department, together with the Competition Authority, is undertaking a study of the authority's operations with a view to assessing the authority's future resource requirements. I am fully committed to ensuring that the authority is adequately resourced to discharge its important statutory functions and I will speedily address any resource deficiency identified in the study when the report is to hand. My Department is pursuing inquiries about the exercise of beneficial ownership in the cases identified. I will be in contact with the alliance again when the issues raised in its submission to me have been fully considered.
