asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is satisfied with the present system of price control; and, if not, the proposals his Department have to ensure a more rigid form of price control for consumer protection.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price Control.
4.
I have put in train an examination of the present system of price control to see what improvements or alterations may be desirable and feasible. I would prefer not to make statements about possible changes until my examination has been completed.
I am rather surprised at this statement in view of the fact that the Minister and his colleagues indicated before the election a great many ideas about how to impose a rigid price control and could the Minister not now be more helpful in his reply to his colleague's question?
The Deputy is, I think, being a little precipitate. The proposals will emerge in due course.
In due course is not good enough.
5.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the number of inspectors employed to ensure that the regulations requiring the display of prices at retail level are in force; and if he will state the figure for each county.
There are at present 13 inspectors available for the enforcement of retail price display orders. Arrangements are being made to recruit a further number of inspectors. All the inspectors at present operate from the Department's offices in Kildare Street, Dublin.
6.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the numbers of (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions which arose from breaches of the regulations that require retailers to display price lists.
Up to 27th April, 1973, a total of 596 prosecutions for contravention of the Retail Price (Food) Display Order, 1972, had come before the courts. Convictions were recorded in 548 cases.
7.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is satisfied that regulations regarding the display of price lists are being observed.
Investigations carried out in recent months by inspectors of my Department indicate a high degree of observance throughout the country of the Retail Price (Food) Display Order, 1972, and the Retail Price (Beverages in Licensed Premises) Display Order, 1972. An active policy of prosecution for contraventions of these orders is being pursued and traders generally must by now have realised that it is easier to display the required notice than to run the risk of prosecution for non-compliance with the orders.
8.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he proposes to take any steps to control the price of two drugs (names supplied).
9.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if, in view of the recent statement in the British House of Commons regarding overcharging for two drugs (details supplied), he has made any inquiries regarding excessive prices for them in this country; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 9 together.
The National Prices Commission are at present examining the prices charged for the two drugs in question and I am awaiting their recommendation in the matter.
Is it not true that these particular drugs have been the subject of what one might call a scandal in the United Kingdom? Surely the Government can act quickly on the information compiled in that country?
The Deputy may not be aware of the actual situation in the United Kingdom. The instructions to the firm in question by the British Government are the subject of appeal and, in fact, the reductions in the price in the United Kingdom, reductions directed by the Government there, have not yet come into force. The matter is still under negotiation and deliberation. We are not lagging behind the current United Kingdom situation; we are following the matter actively.
The Minister is carrying out his own investigations as well?
Yes, indeed.
Would it be possible to carry out an investigation into the price of more drugs rather than confine the investigation to just two drugs?
The particular question relates to two drugs but the whole question of the retail cost of drugs here seems to me to be a matter of importance. The Deputy will be aware of the pressure of work on the National Prices Commission. I have already indicated that the area of the retail cost of drugs is one that, in my view, requires investigation.
Are these two drugs distributed by the manufacturers direct or through an agency?
They are distributed through an agency.
10.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will consider fixing the price of potatoes and if he is aware of any form of price control for potatoes in Britain.
As indicated in their monthly report for December, 1972, the National Prices Commission have commissioned a detailed investigation into the question of fruit and vegetable prices generally. I will consider any recommendations which the commission make to me on the subject.
As regards potato prices in Britain, I understand that there is no formal price control on potato prices there, as fresh foods are exempt from the current British price freeze measures.
11.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the effect on meat prices of the increased price of feedingstuffs.
The increased price of feeding stuffs will not have any significant effect on meat prices generally.
What about poultry? I am sorry. It is a separate question.
Remembering that the price of foodstuffs has gone up by £9 to £10 per ton, how could one possibly expect the price of meat not to increase correspondingly? As far as I know, a price increase is expected on some feedingstuffs in a matter of days or weeks.
I think the Deputy will be aware that the price of meat is determined by the supply and demand situation and also by the price regulations obtaining at EEC level, by support prices and things like that. In that context, changes in the feeding prices are generally reflected in changes of margin either up or down and not in changes of the retail outlet. The Deputy will also be aware that in the case of any livestock the prepared feedingstuffs as sold in the bag only form a very small part of what the animal consumes.
Arising out of the Minister's reply, does he accept that arising from the steep rise there will have to be an increase, particularly in pig-feed, which is something I know a lot about?
12.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state by what amount and percentage he expects the price of fertilisers to increase in the next 12 months.
I could not at this stage forecast by what amount and percentage the prices of fertilisers will increase during the next 12 months.
Is the Minister aware that there has been anxiety in farming organisations on the way in which prices of fertilisers have been increased due to the withdrawal of the Government subsidy? Is the Minister aware that the organisations, when they met the Government, were led to believe that the subsidy would be phased out over five or six years? They knew nothing about the price increases until they were announced in the paper. Surely the Minister for Industry and Commerce should be on informal terms with the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries. All this should have been discussed so that the Minister would be able to give a long-term forecast.
We are in circumstances where both farmers' costs and the prices they receive for what they sell are rising rapidly. Many of the cost factors are outside our control and are increases in costs which are consequential on our entry to the EEC and are of a kind which was predicted and expected.
There was a promise made by the Government to the organisations that the subsidies would be phased out over a number of years. The subsidies all went together. This was a mean thing to do. The Government were anxious to save money. They were not true to their obligations.
Is it not true that all these increases have an adverse effect on the cost of living?
When Fianna Fáil talk about the cost of living, we are hearing something.
Surely the Minister is not serious when he suggests that he can get no projection of the proposed increases in fertiliser prices over the next 12 months in view of his direct responsibility?
The Deputy is a good man to talk about projections. He never made a projection in his life.
(Interruptions.)
I think we should afford the Minister an opportunity to reply.
The "yappers" are in the back benches still.
You are on the Opposition benches.
I must ask again that the Minister be afforded an opportunity of replying to the Deputy's question.
The Deputy should be more aware than anybody else in the House of the difficulties of this sort of projection in regard to prices in the current world situation. If the Deputy wants the sort of forecast that is simply done by taking a sheet of paper and writing something on it, that is perfectly easy. To make a valid forecast, which has a good probability of standing up in current world circumstances, is, as he knows, something that is extremely difficult to do and which I decline to do.
The Minister was great at making forecasts 12 months ago.
13.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will postpone acceptance of the National Prices Commission's findings on supermarket prices pending a review of the accuracy of some of the prices published.
The survey of retail prices in certain supermarket chains recently published in the National Prices Commission's Monthly Report for March, 1973, was a factual survey carried out by the Commission in line with their policy of providing information to consumers on retail prices. The acceptance or otherwise by me of the findings in this survey does not arise.
If this was a factual survey perhaps the people who carried out the survey went to different shops from the ones I go to. Let us take the example of half-a-pound of cheese.
The price is given at 11p. For at least three months before the survey was published the price was 13p. There were other discrepancies also. It is hard to draw a conclusion because there is variation in prices from store to store.
That was not a question, a Cheann Comhairle, but to the extent that there is a question implicit in what the Deputy said, I think that if he familiarises himself with the content of the report of the National Prices Commission, of which he was provided with a copy, he will find a large number of provisos and an indication as to how he might interpret them. This would avoid the sort of misunderstanding expressed by the Deputy.
14.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will enforce strict control of the cost of school clothing and in particular of Confirmation and First Communion outfits.
Under the Prices and Charges (Notification of Increases) Order, 1973, all manufacturers, including manufacturers of school clothing and Confirmation and First Communion outfits, must give one month's notice in advance, to me, of any price increases which they propose on their products. The terms of this order are strictly enforced by my Department and any manufacturer who does not comply with the order runs the risk of prosecution.
Although I do not exercise formal control of clothing prices at retail level, any complaints about overcharging by retailers for clothing will be investigated in full by the inspectorate of my Department.