Could I ask the Minister if he will expand on a remark made by him at the annual lunch of the Federation of Trade Associations recently where he made a pretty wide-ranging speech? He referred to price monitoring activities which had taken place since the abolition of the National Prices Commission and the price line offices, which has left the consumers unprotected and I would be pleased if he could give me some indication of the monitoring he has undertaken and that which he proposes to undertake in the interests of protection of consumers.

When the prices commission were abolished they were abolished on the basis that there would be a saving of about £300,000 and because inflation was quite low and is now approaching zero figures that competition in the market place would keep prices down in the absence of control. If particular sectors or particular areas were seen to cause difficulty it was because competition was not allowed to operate. In areas such as these, all the powers of the Prices Acts are still available to me and I would refer the problem area to the Commission on Restrictive Practices to establish if competition was being inhibited. With the staff available to me in the Department and the residual staff in the prices commission I had surveys carried out on the price of petrol. As the Deputy is aware, half of the outlets surveyed were overcharging, many of them significantly. They were resurveyed subsequently and now about 91 per cent, representing practically all the volume——

Is the monitoring on an ongoing basis?

This was a once off targeting as a result of complaints which came into the Department. The petrol aspect is now OK. They are at the right price. A small group of retailers are still overcharging but they represent a very small amount of the total volume. Another area which was causing difficulty or seemed to be on the basis of complaints coming in to me was the price of drink. This was referred to the Commission on Restrictive Practices and I am awaiting a full report on that area. It was along those lines I spoke at that particular luncheon and gave the information which was available to me.