The new National Consumer Agency will give consumers a strong voice for the first time, writes Ann Fitzgerald
The Consumer Strategy Group (CSG), which I chaired, was given a very clear job by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment - to develop a policy which, for the first time, would empower consumers in Ireland and would give them a strong voice.
This mandate was a response to public concern about "rip off Ireland" and a recognition that consumers are stronger and more influential in other countries. The CSG consulted with consumers, listened to them and carried out the most extensive research conducted into consumer issues in this country. The group also examined how other countries empowered consumers.
Now, with the establishment of the National Consumer Agency, Irish consumers will have a strong champion that is on their side, and no one else's. As consumers, we are getting more and more frustrated. The CSG's research shows the depth of this frustration. 87 per cent of consumers feel they are frequently overcharged. People find the area of consumer rights both complex and confusing. 67 per cent of consumers believe that the complaints process is lengthy and expensive.
In many areas of commercial and public life, the consumer has no voice. Government departments, local authorities and regulators regularly carry out "public consultation" but they will freely admit they get very little feedback from consumers. They do, however, get plenty from business and industry.
Business is represented around the social partnership table; the consumer is not. The Consumers' Association of Ireland (CAI), a voluntary body, has done its best with limited resources to represent consumer interests.
However, to expect the CAI to have sole responsibility for representing the consumer voice is like expecting the Society of St Vincent de Paul to do the job of the Department of Social Welfare.
The CSG believes the balance of power needs to be shifted in consumers' favour. The new National Consumer Agency will, we believe, do this.
The agency will be an independent statutory body with its own board, funded by the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment. It will build on the enforcement work of the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs. It will have extensive powers which it will put to work on behalf of the consumer. Its driving mandate will be: "What is in the consumer's interest?" Its voice - the consumer voice - will be wide-ranging. The CSG, in the course of its work, studied a number of sectors in Ireland which are of real importance to consumers.
These included the groceries sector, pharmaceuticals, transport and the utilities. The underlying question behind these studies was: "Where is the consumer voice?" We found little emphasis on consumer interests. Ultimately the CSG could only conclude that consumers in Ireland are not getting a fair deal. That must change.
Much debate has already centred on the CSG's recommendation that the Groceries Order be abolished because it is not in consumers' interests.
Indeed, those vested interests who are lobbying hard, in public and behind the scenes, for the retention of the Groceries Order claim to be on the side of the consumer.
The reality is that the Groceries Order does not ban "below cost" selling, as is widely proclaimed. Rather, it bans retailers from passing on to consumers the discounts they receive from their suppliers because these discounts are not stated on the invoice.
Off-invoice discounts are rife in the trade. The bigger the retailer, the greater the discount. Why shouldn't shops be able, if they wish, to pass on some of those discounts directly to consumers?
The bottom line is that the Groceries Order keeps prices higher than they need be and no amount of dressing up of the argument by vested interests can change that fact. I welcome the decision by the Minister to engage in public consultation on the future of the Groceries Order.
I hope that the coming debate is constructive, realistic and based on the facts. The Irish consumer deserves no less.
In one sense however the coming debate will be different from previous discussions - this time around the National Consumer Agency will ensure that the voice of the consumer is heard.
Ann Fitzgerald chaired the Consumer Strategy Group, and is to chair the National Consumer Agency