Pricing goods in pounds and euros in the run-up to the single currency is not necessary, according to the Director of Consumer Affairs, Mr William Fagan. The risk of inflationary price increases - as happened in the decimalisation of the currency - was much lower, and the cost to retailers of dual pricing was not warranted.
In his annual report for 1997, Mr Fagan recommended there should be no statutory dual pricing for the euro, and also advocates some form of social lending, as in some European states, to solve the problem of illegal moneylenders. Public service procedures are criticised as outmoded.
Mr Fagan also warned bank customers to be mindful of giving information such as bank account or PIN numbers on the Internet without first checking security.
On the changeover to the euro, Mr Fagan said the situation was quite different from when decimalisation was introduced 30 years ago: "I do not see any great possibility of so called `rip-offs' and price mark-ups in this process. I also do not see the necessity for statutory dual pricing rules." He said the euro cent would be smaller than the existing penny, and technology - bar coding, the possibility of single/double function conversion calculators etc - was very much improved.
The cost to retailers of dual pricing would be enormous and would inevitably be passed on to consumers, and in view of the difficulties in getting resources for enforcement this would be an almost impossible task.
In his criticism of public service procedures, Mr Fagan said that proposals to double his staff to deal with new legislation including the Consumer Credit Act, 1995, and establish regional consumer affairs offices had not been implemented.
"As far as I can gather the delay in filling the remaining posts has been partly caused by delays in public recruitment generally," Mr Fagan pointed out in the report.
Under the Act, his office collected licence fees from moneylenders and pawnbrokers, authorisation fees from credit and mortgage intermediaries and application fees from credit institutions which wished to increase charges. These were to offset the cost of implementing the Act.
Mr Fagan said there had been significant resistance to the payment of authorisation fees and he had had to take legal action.
"A more fundamental question which should now be addressed is how well consumer policy implementation in Ireland measures up to the aspirations set down in the Treaty of Amsterdam. Consumers should not loser out on these as a result of outmoded public service procedures." Mr Fagan said he granted 74 applications for moneylender licences in 1997.
"In my role as licensor, I am concerned that in seeking to eliminate excessive rates of charge by moneylenders the net outcome does not result in driving legal moneylenders out of business, to be replaced by illegal lenders charging much higher rates and employing totally different business practices.
"The only real solution to this dilemma is the introduction of some form of social lending as applies in some other member-states of the European Union."
The Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs, Mr Kitt, said the Director's concerns about the non-filling of vacancies would be reviewed in the light of a consultancy report examining the practices employed in the office.