Eir and ComReg legislation
Deputy McNamara asked when promised legislation on Eir and complaints to ComReg would be brought forward. The Tánaiste said the Bill’s heads were at Cabinet and that it would strengthen the CCPC and give ComReg administrative sanctioning powers.
In view of the Tánaiste's earlier comments about responsible comment, I suggest that comparing vitamin D supplements with remdesivir or hydroxychloroquine, in terms of either the generally accepted benefits or potential negative side effects, is irresponsible.
The question I want to ask about promised legislation relates to Eir and complaints to ComReg more generally. When I asked this question before Christmas, the Tánaiste suggested that he hoped to bring legislation to the Cabinet before Christmas and to the floor of the Dáil in February. That legislation is necessary, in particular as Eir's difficulties with mobile telephone coverage continue across west Clare from Inagh to Miltown Malbay. Has the legislation been brought to Cabinet to give the power to ComReg to levy administrative sanctions on telco companies that repeatedly flout their contractual obligations.
Comment on this
On the first point, yes, the heads of the Bill have been brought to Cabinet. That will be provided for in legislation that the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, and I will bring through to increase the powers of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC. We are going to include in that Bill giving ComReg the power to levy administrative sanctions. We expect the Bill to be published and to go through the Houses in this session. We intend to do that because of a European deadline we have to meet as well.
If I could rephrase my earlier comments, the point I was making was a different one. I am not dismissing the possibility that vitamin D may be beneficial in terms of Covid; what I am saying is that the jury is out. The president of America made recommendations about what medicines people should and should not take, including remdesivir, which by the way, is a recognised licensed medicine for Covid, but it did not turn out to meet its promise.