Competition Authority failing consumers, says former director

THE Competition Authority was criticised yesterday by its former enforcement director Patrick Massey, who said the watchdog was failing to adequately protect consumers from being ripped off by cartels.

Mr Massey said the gardaí should take over the prosecution of cartels from the Competition Authority, because no one had ever been jailed for price fixing. Meanwhile, cartels were pushing up the price of consumer goods by 10%, he said.

The Competition Authority is responsible for ensuring consumers are not ripped off. It has the power to prosecute companies for anti-competitive practices if they are operating cartels and price fixing. The 2002 Competition Act gave the authority more powers to prosecute individuals for price-fixing and those found guilty can face up to five years in jail or fines of up to €4 million.