Carol Nolan on consumer rights bill, agri concerns and rural broadband

It is certainly a very wide-ranging and complex bill seeking as it does to consolidate and update the legislative provisions that regulate the main types of consumer contract. There are certainly sections of this bill that are very welcome and will make a real practical difference to people in everyday life. For example, section 19 which deals with the provision of remedies for the incorrect installation of goods. The bill makes it clear that an incorrect installation of goods will result in a lack of conformity of the goods with the sales contract where the installation was carried out under the trader's responsibility. I certainly welcome that piece because we are all aware here of cases where people have been left high and dry after handing over significant amounts of money only to have the goods they purchased damaged at the point of installation. Obviously most decent and conscientious traders look after their customers and reputation is important to them, but there are elements out there that seek to take advantage and unfortunately we are hearing more and more of that. I also think that section 25 of the bill on repair or replacement of goods is a welcome and pragmatic move as it provides that a trader must ensure repair or replacement is carried out free of charge within a reasonable time period and without any significant inconvenience to the customer. Again, those safeguards are very, very necessary and very welcome. Again, this will strengthen people's rights in this area and I do think that that is very, very positive, particularly as there is a balancing part in section 28 which deals with the obligations of consumer in event of termination of sales contract. The majority of traders are, as I said, hard-working and decent people and they too need proportionate protection of the law. I see Minister that the bill will also amend the Consumer Protection Act 2007 which will strengthen the enforcement powers of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. This is an approach that was badly lacking for many years and particularly in the agri sector which was left very exposed. If we are going to have regulators then they better have teeth and the ability to actually do their job and make a difference. In the context of the agri sector, I accept that we now have the Unfair Trading Practices UTP Directive which has been transposed into Irish law. But I see from a recent ministerial reply that the Directive does not and will not address below-cost selling as it was considered that legislation dealing with this issue had acted against the interests of consumers. I understand that there were also difficulties in terms of enforcement. I would have some concerns around that particular approach. If government is intent on protecting consumer interests then it must do so in the round and are farmers not consumers? We have to remember that farm families also purchase goods and that these costs are increasing all of the time as input costs soar. But when they go to sell their goods or products they are not protected by the same consumer protections in terms of value for money. I would ask why is that the case and how is it right that we have that type of situation? Why must farmers have to endure disproportionate levels of below-cost selling by the multiples? I know this bill does not deal directly with this particular issue but I do want to raise it and highlight the fact that if we are going to be serious about protecting the rights of consumers and traders then we should try and spread the net to include those in the agri sector also. One last issue that I want to raise Minister is dealt with in section 60 of the bill, the remedy for failure to supply digital content or digital service. We all know that there are very many families in rural Ireland who continue to endure poor or at best patchy WiFi services and connections. Is it really fair to expect a family to pay a monthly fee for a service that should be enabling them to access a digital service or digital content on an intermittent basis? I really do hope that this bill will provide some positive remedy for such families who more often than not have to just endure poor services because of the lack of alternatives. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm happy to ask the next question. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thanks, Madam Governor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.