The former aviation regulator Bill Prasifka is to take over as chairman of the Competition Authority from the end of March, the Government has announced.
Mr Prasifka, a US lawyer, replaces John Fingleton, who is now heading the British Office of Fair Trade in London. The appointment was made yesterday by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin.
Speaking yesterday Mr Prasifka said: "When I joined the Commission for Aviation Regulation I said I was not going to be carried out in a box. So I kept my promise."
He said the Competition Authority was more his natural home as he was originally an anti-trust lawyer. "I hope to build on the work they have been doing across a whole range of areas. Their advocacy has been very strong over recent years and they have been taking more enforcement actions than ever before," he added.
Mr Prasifka previously worked at the Irish Competition Authority between 1996 and 2001. He is a graduate of Columbia University and has worked in private practice in New York and Dublin. He specialises in Irish, European and American competition law. He will be paid €151,834 in his new role.
The Competition Authority faces several challenges, including implementing reform of the professions, such as law and dentistry. It is also seeking reform in the insurance and banking sectors. The authority won a victory last year when the Government indicated it would scrap the Groceries Order, but this has yet to happen.
Mr Prasifka was appointed Ireland's first ever aviation regulator back in 2001. Since that time his office has been embroiled in several controversies. At one point Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary called for his resignation. He said Mr Prasifka had not done enough to reign in charges at Dublin Airport.
However, in 2004 Mr Prasifka accused Mr O'Leary of being "intemperate, ill-informed and unconstructive" in his views on airport charges and the powers available to him.
While Ryanair was critical of Mr Prasifka, Aer Rianta, now the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), also clashed with him. The chairman of Aer Rianta, Noel Hanlon, blamed the regulator, among others, for not allowing the airport to develop its facilities to deal with passenger growth.
Aer Rianta took a High Court action against Mr Prasifka in the early period of his time at the commission. The action questioned his authority to control the charges levied at the airport. The long-running legal action was eventually dropped by the DAA. The airports authority wanted to set charges at a certain point in order to fund a capital expenditure programme.
