Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 3 May 2001

Vol. 535 No. 3

Written Answers - Tribunals of Inquiry.

Proinsias De Rossa

Question:

22 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the costs incurred by the State, at the latest date for which figures are available, arising from the various inquiries instigated by or on behalf of her Department; the elements of these costs that have been recovered from National Irish Bank; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12185/01]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

The costs incurred since 1997 on company investigations initiated by or on behalf of my Department currently amount to about £5.064 million. This amount does not include the salary costs of civil service staff who are working on a number of these investigations. Similarly, the major proportion of the legal costs relating to the investigations are being borne by the Vote of the Chief State Solicitor.

Of this amount, the cost of the inquiries into National Irish Bank Limited and National Irish Bank Financial Services Limited, which are being undertaken by High Court inspectors under section 8 of the Companies Act, 1990, currently stands at about £3 million. None of this has yet been recovered from the two companies. As I have indicated previously, I intend to request the High Court the full recoupment from the companies concerned of these costs on completion of the inquiries.

Of the balance of £2.064 million, the principal areas of expenditure have been incurred on the investigations of Ansbacher, Cayman Limited, £1.35 million, Bula Resources Holdings plc, £204,000, Faxhill Homes Limited, £207,000, IIB Bank Limited, £88,000, and various other section 19 investigations, £45,000. The sum also includes £170,000 in respect of the State's portion of the costs of liquidating the group of companies associated with the Clonmannon retirement village. In this communication, the Commission states that the national officials responsible for co-ordinating the changeover to the euro, the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland, in the case of this country, were consulted when the report was being drawn up. Part 3 of the report, pp 41-42, addresses the risk of price increases across the eurozone during the changeover and concludes that, on the whole, the risk is very low. The report suggests several lines of preventive action which could be pursued in order to reassure consumers, "without calling into question the principle of the freedom to set prices, which is one of the essential foundations of the Single Market".

The Deputy will be pleased to learn that it so happens we in Ireland have already taken on board key suggestions contained in the report as regards dual pricing, a special logo and price surveys. The voluntary commitments in that connection are to be found in the action plan 2000-2001, to protect consumers as far as possible against unwarranted price rises during the changeover to the euro, which I launched last December and which is being implemented by the Director of Consumer Affairs. Needless to say, the secretariat of the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland was consulted when the action plan was being prepared. In Ireland the special logo will be available from the Director of Consumer Affairs. Display of the logo means that the businesses concerned are publicly committed to carrying out the changeover fairly, without seeking any advantage from the conversion. Consumers should be able to feel confident that they will not be overcharged for goods or services where they see the logo on display. The Deputy may be interested to know that consumers can contact the Director of Consumer Affairs with queries or complaints they may have on the euro at [e-mail].

Going beyond national level, the idea of a voluntary commitment to overall price stability appears in the joint statement adopted on 2 April 2001 by representatives of the retail trades, SMEs and consumers in the eurozone: "Retailers undertake not to use the changeover to the euro to apply hidden price rises. They undertake to do their utmost to ensure the overall stability of their prices when converting them into euros and to publicise these commitments using appropriate communication tools. In order to reflect this commitment and to get the message across to consumers, they will use the European slogan "new currency, stable prices" as much as possible in all appropriate contexts".

The full text of the joint statement is included at annex 3 to the report attached to the Commission communication.

In the light of the foregoing information, I am sure the Deputy will already have drawn the logical conclusion that with regard to the changeover to the euro, neither price freezes nor price curtailments during the early part of 2002 are under consideration.