November 19, 2008
Regular readers are probably aware that I’m not a big fan of the actions of the National Consumer Agency. And though it might have been expected, you haven’t seem me dancing in the streets with the news that the NCA would be no more following the 2009 budget announcement that the NCA would be merged with the Competition Authority.
Apart from a comment about the proposal on my original budget post, I haven’t really approached this subject.
There’s not a whole lot for me to say really, having thought about it since the original announcement. I absolutely believe that we need an organisation such as the National Consumer Agency to protect the interests of Irish consumers, but not operated in the way this organisation is.
The NCA has at least 60 different pieces of consumer legislation at their disposal under which they can protect consumers, yet during 2007 when they received at least 2,250 complaints regarding suspected legislation breaches, there were only the following prosecutions:
- Failure to display price of grocery product - 3
- Failure to display prices in a public house - 3
- Failure to display price of petrol - 6
- Other fines imposed - 4
- Prohibition Orders - 3
- Oh, and don’t forget the classic “undertakings” - there was 1 of those.
That’s less than a 1% prosecution rate - hardly “putting the consumer first”.
And what does it take to achieve this 1% prosecution rate - according to the NCA 2007 Annual Report:
The Agency employed 59 staff, of which 55 were civil servants on secondment from the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment, 3 were on secondment from Forfás and 1 is a member of staff of the Agency.
And at a cost to the tax payer of:
State funding was provided through the Office of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and amounted to €5,369,331 for the period ended 31December 2007.
We do need a National Consumer Agency - and possibly we need it to be independent and for it to not be merged with the Competition Authority - but for an organisation that claims to be “putting consumers first” it needs to do a whole lot more and to be a whole lot more effective before we can feel in any way protected.
November 15, 2008
Just a few short points for the weekend.
- ECB Bonus Money - Following our comments last week regarding what you could do with your ECB interest rate windfall, the Irish Times Business blog proposes that you should really be thinking about putting the extra cash against your mortgage and thereby reducing the term. Given an Irish Independent story on Friday that says the cost of lending on credit cards on personal loans will be increasing as banks scramble to keep making money, we’d actually suggest that you reduce higher cost borrowings first (such as credit cards and loans) before paying off the cheaper borrowing that is your mortgage.
- Clocked Cars - Earlier this week, the Irish Independent provided some coverage on the AA research that found that upwards of 10000 imported 2nd hand cars may have been clocked before being sold to Irish customers. We’ve covered car clocking here a few times before, and have criticised the National Consumer Agency policy of not prosecuting those caught doing so. Check out our Top Tips on how to check if the car you’re thinking of buying may be clocked. This subsequent Independent article indicates though that like everything else in the world, clocking cars is becoming more technically advanced – but most of our Top Tips will still help you identify other tell-tale signs that a car might be clocked.
- A Short Rant - Why do so few people have the courtesy to respond to phone and e-mail queries these days. If I were to stand in front of you to ask you the same question, would you still ignore me? I’m talking about sales inquiries to businesses, queries to customer service departments, calls and e-mails to work colleagues, contacts and acquaintances, or just general responses to e-mails, phone calls or written communications. I may just work to a different standard, but as much as possible, I respond to anything I get within the day, and if I can’t I will still respond saying I can’t respond, and confirming when I will. Is that so hard? Am I asking too much?
- Price of Petrol - I noticed this morning that petrol in Tesco in Clearwater in Finglas was 105.6c per litre. Just think – if the government hadn’t added 8c per litre to the cost of petrol in the budget, we’d now be back down below the €1 per litre for the first time in a few of years – April or May 2005. The NCA are investigating petrol prices at the moment because we’re told that Irish petrol prices are 20% higher than the rest of Europe. The budget increase of 8c at the moment represents 8% of the price, or nearly half of the 20%. Will the government appointed National Consumer Agency rightly associate most of the price difference reason to government taxation, or will we get some other reasons? Or will they shy away from criticising their masters?
- And Finally - No Frills Shouldn’t mean no standards? An interesting article from the Cork Southern Star newspaper detailing a range of issues with Ryanair.
Have a great weekend!
November 7, 2008
Okay, so it’s only €30 for every €100,000 borrowed on your mortgage. The average mortgage, according to RTE news this evening is €250,000 so that’s a saving of €75 based on todays reduction.
But, added to the recent previous further ECB rate reduction, you’re now €150 per month better off. And potentially you’re even better off following the changes to the mortgage interest rate relief in the Budget.
Lots of numbers, but the question is – what are you going to do with that extra money?
How’s your “rainy day” savings looking? Or are you planning a big Christmas and going to need a bit extra? Do you need to pay down other debts – credit cards, car loans, etc? Or could you overpay on your mortgage to reduce the term?
Whatever you do, don’t let this welcome extra money to be assimilated into your day to day spending. This money should be seen as a bonus, and should be treated differently to your “normal money” – make sure you get a decent longer term benefit from it.
October 17, 2008
From the classic movie Network - this is four minutes that is definitely worth watching given what’s been going on in Ireland this week.
October 16, 2008
Check out our TopTips.ie site for our most recent top tips on helping you to save money. This week we gave ten Top Tips on reducing your electricity usage to save money, as well as ten more on reducing your gas usage.
In the last couple of weeks, we also had Top Tips on saving money on your car insurance as well as Top Tips on saving money for yourself through the Value Ireland Savings Plan.
Click here to check all these out and maybe counteract the impact of the recent budget in a small way.
October 15, 2008
There was a commuter from Kells giving out about the €200 per year charge. Now Kells is a long way to be commuting into Dublin every day. Sure, house prices in Dublin went crazy for years and people had to move out. But there’s also an element of personal culpability there. People wanted thousands of square feet of living accommodation and big gardens to boot. And if they wanted that, they had to endure the commensurate pain of a long (and increasingly expensive) commute. And those of us who live close to the city got proximity but have got small living spaces, much much smaller than the houses in which we grew up. That’s the compromise you make.
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
October 14, 2008
That’s about the sum total of my thoughts on Budget 2009 from Brian Lenihan. Lots of messing around here and there, but nothing that really stands out as addressing the causes, or resolving the impact, of the problems that we’re faced with.
proceed with 30 rationalisation proposals that will reduce the number of bodies by 41, streamline functions in 3 areas and rationalise the army barracks structure bringing it more into line with operational requirements and permitting economies of scale.
This does mean that the National Consumer Agency will be merged with the Competition Authority. There’s no further details on what the implications of this will be. Still - let the Celebrity Death Match between Ann Fitzgerald and Bill Prasifka begin. The winner gets to look after the consumers interests.
Suffice to say that in the short term, it won’t actually mean a whole lot anyway, and it’s unlikely to really save any money in the long term. Job losses? Hardly. Cost reductions? Unlikely. All we can hope for is that the interests of consumers are better served by the amalgamation of two useless regulators into one. We’ll see if two wrongs with regards to consumer affairs can actually make a single right.
Possibly the most interesting aspect of this decision is the fact that the National Consumer Agency was longer an interim (a pretend, powerless) organisation that it was an acutual properly functioning agency. It was announced in 2005, received statutory powers in 2007, and is now slated for amalgamation in 2008.
Isn’t that a damning indictment of the uselessness of the agency itself, and a perfect illustration of the complete failure of this governments policies and actions in looking after Irish consumers?
October 14, 2008
Before I get a chance to mess around with the contents, here’s a Wordle of the actual speech just given by Brian Lenihan, Minister for Finance.
October 13, 2008
We’re in a recession now. The banks are taking a hammering on the Irish Stock Exchange. Eddie Hobbs is telling anyone who’ll listen that things are going to get worse before they get better - but that everything is different for Brendan Investments in Germany apparently (ahem, German government €500bn bailout anyone?).
Q: What’s the definition of optimism?
A: A banker ironing 5 shirts on a Sunday night.
And so, ever at the forefront of timely offers, Lidl will next Thursday offer you a full new interview suit, shirt, tie and shoes for less than €100. Don’t think they’re offering hair shirts - though they wouldn’t be on time for Tuesdays budget anyway.
October 13, 2008
The Minister for Finance, Mr Brian Lenihan TD, has asked me to acknowledge receipt of your recent email and pre Budget Submission and to say that the contents will be considered in the context of the forthcoming Budget.
You can read the budget submission for Irish consumers here. We can only wait to see what tomorrow brings.
