Nolan raises concerns about increasing fuel prices

THE independent TD for Laois Offaly, Carol Nolan, has said that she has written to The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) and the Minister of State with responsibility for consumer protection, Robert Troy, following a number of concerns she has received about potential instances of so-called price-gouging practices by fuel companies and service stations.

Deputy Nolan went on to say that the Ukrainian crisis cannot be used as a pretext by either public or private bodies to artificially inflate prices, beyond the expected levels of volatility, in order to maximise profits during a time of international and domestic crisis:

“At the moment all that we have is anecdotal data about the practices that some fuel companies are engaging in. That is why need a robust and transparent mechanism put in place to ensure that we can gather the kind of information we need to determine if issues of this kind-such as the jacking up of petrol and diesel prices are taking place at any kind of systematic level,” Deputy Nolan said.

“The CCPC has already notified us that it does not have a role in monitoring price increases in the market, but that if businesses are seen to be colluding in fixing prices, then this equates to cartel behaviour and the CCPC can investigate and refer a case to the DPP for criminal prosecution.

“Unfortunately, we know all too well in rural Ireland that de facto cartel like behaviours already exist in the meat factory sector. We cannot allow that to be replicated within the fuel sector here.

“I am therefore calling on Minister Troy to make it clear as a matter of urgency that he will not tolerate any move, however incremental, toward the emergence of abhorrent price fixing practices when it comes to fuel and energy supplies,” concluded Deputy Nolan.