THE COMPETITION Authority is like “a 1980s skinhead organisation”, a Fianna Fáil deputy told the Oireachtas enterprise committee yesterday.
Deputies at the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment sharply criticised the authority for a number of its recent decisions, including its challenge to attempts by the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland to freeze prices in pubs. They accused the authority of taking a purely academic position on competition without caring about the affects on the ground.
Fianna Fáil’s Chris Andrews said the authority was like a 1980s skinhead organisation. “They go around intimidating people and are oblivious to the economic and social damage they are doing,” he said.
“I apologise to all skinheads . . . I have done them an injustice.”
Committee chairman, Labour’s Willie Penrose said some of the decisions taken by the authority were made “in an ivory tower” and they did not take into account the effect on the ground.
“This committee feels strongly there is a grave need to get rid of the Competition Authority or amend its legislation,” he said.
Breda Power, assistant secretary of the commerce, consumers and competition division at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, said the Government planned to merge the authority with the National Consumer Agency and said there was also a review under way of the Competition Act, the legislation on which the work of the authority is based.
She pointed out that some functions of the authority stemmed from the requirements of EU legislation.
