Thumbs Up/Consumer champion: Irish consumers should have"the strongest and most modern consumer protections in the world," the Minister for Enterprise, Michael Martin, promised after publishing the Consumer Protection (National Consumer Agency) Bill last week.
The long-heralded legislation is, he said, "the first and most crucial phase of what is a root and branch review of Ireland's consumer laws", and contains a general ban on unfair, aggressive or misleading sales tactics. It lists 31 different activities that are banned under all circumstances, including pyramid selling, prize draw scams, making false claims about a product or service, baiting customers by advertising products for sale that are not available, persistent and unwanted cold-calling and certain types of advertising aimed directly at children.
The Bill will also formally establish the new Consumer Agency which "will be a powerful advocate on behalf of consumers", at least according to Martin. Predictably perhaps, opposition parties were less convinced and, before the Agency had a chance to draw breath, Fine Gael's enterprise spokesman Phil Hogan was damning it as nothing more than a "toothless tiger" with weak powers and "aspirational" objectives. He also said the Bill was "too little, too late for the hard pressed Irish consumer".
Labour were more upbeat, broadly welcoming the Bill, while consumer groups and retailers were also optimistic about the Bill's future.
Thumbs Down/Don't bank on it: While transactions on most student accounts are generally free, young people going to college this autumn have been warned to keep an eye out for hidden charges associated with going into the red. Information from the Financial Regulator shows that if there is not enough money in an account to pay standing orders, direct debits or to cover cheques, charges can run from €4.44 to €12.70 a pop depending on which bank you choose.
Permanent TSB imposes the lowest level of charges for exceeding agreed overdraft limits, while Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland charge the most.
