Proposal to abolish consumer agency ‘daft’
A Government source confirmed the Department of Finance had proposed scrapping the National Consumer Agency (NCA) as part of the plan to reduce state spending.
Responsibility for consumer protection would return to the Department of Enterprise, which established the agency in May of last year.
But Mr Gilmore said the proposal made no sense.
“The NCA provides a range of important functions, from naming and shaming retailers who are caught breaking consumer law to preventing car dealers clocking secondhand cars to advocating on behalf of consumers when utilities and public bodies are proposing price hikes,” he said.
“This organisation was only established on a statutory basis just last year, and now the Government wants to get rid of it, before it has even published its first annual report.”
At a time when people had less money in their pockets and inflation continued to spiral upwards consumer protection was more important than ever, Mr Gilmore said.
And while the agency had got off to a slow start, its work was now beginning to pay dividends, he added.
“The Labour party has consistently argued that the Government and the NCA should be more proactive in championing the consumer and ensuring that they are fully protected. The answer is to properly resource the NCA, not to scrap it.”
He claimed most of the Government cuts proposed so far would affect the most vulnerable.
“We are also reading reports of kites being flown by the likes of Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin, who is suggesting that the Combat Poverty Agency too should be scrapped.
“The Government are taking a very cynical approach to these cuts, and it seems that where the axe is to fall, it is falling on organisations whose primary purpose is to advocate for the most vulnerable, and for those whose voices are not normally heard.”
The Department of Enterprise last night made clear it was not behind the proposal to scrap the NCA, stating: “No decisions have been made, or proposals put forward, by this department to Government regarding agency restructuring.”
A Government source confirmed it was the Department of Finance which had suggested the NCA’s abolition.
Individual departments are expected to report back to finance by September, suggesting which agencies under their remit could be scrapped or merged with other bodies.
