Mr. Leo Bollins,
Clerk to the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht
Houses of the Oireachtas Service
Leinster House
Kildare Street
Dublin 2
D02 XR20
RE: Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht debate on the
Cemetery Management Bill 2013 – 17 November 2015
Dear Mr. Bollins,
I wish to refer to your invitation to address the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht on the policy issues arising from the Cemetery Management Bill 2013, which is scheduled for 17 November 2015. As explained on the phone, I am unable to attend due to a prior commitment in Bruxelles and thus thank you for the opportunity to make this written submission.
The Bill provides that a Cemeteries Regulator be established by the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government, to provide for the licensing of cemetery authorities and to specify management stipulations for such authorities, and to promote competition.
Competition law enforcement is undertaken in Ireland by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) which was formed through the amalgamation of the Competition Authority and the National Consumer Agency on 31 October 2014. Its mission is to make markets work better for consumers and businesses. The CCPC is statutorily independent in its functions and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has no direct role in these areas.
The CCPC has, amongst other functions, responsibility to carry out investigations into suspected breaches of anti-competitive practices across all sectors of the economy. Their work is conducted on prioritisation principles and it focuses on areas of greatest detriment.
The CCPC did conduct an investigation into the Glasnevin Trust after it received a complaint in relation to alleged anti-competitive practices contrary to the Competition Act 2002 and it secured a number of remedial measures to mitigate anti-competitive practices and to bring greater transparency to the sector. Details are publicly available on its website:www.ccpc.ie.
Thus, any future complaints of any alleged breaches of competition rules in this sector or indeed any other sector can and should be referred to the CCPC for it to assess the matter as it considers appropriate. In this Department’s view, legislating for another body to deal with alleged breaches of competition rules in this sector would constitute a duplication of existing State resources.
The Cemetery Management Bill 2013 also makes provisions for the licencing of cemetery authorities. In this context, the Bill (at section 2(1)) gives a high-level indication of what the licence should cover viz. owning, managing, operating or occupying a cemetery.
The powers and duties of local authorities in relation to burial grounds are derived, in the first instance, from the Public Health (Ireland) Act 1878 as amended by the Local Government (Sanitary Service) Act 1948 and the Local Government Act 1994, all within the remit of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. This Department would consider that this suite of legislation could be the starting point for any possible introduction of licensing regimes and criteria for the sector, if such a licensing regime was proven to be required.
If it is inferred that the CCPC should also have a role on this licensing or regulatory aspect (due to its horizontal role in competition law enforcement or on foot of its investigation into the Glasnevin Trust), this Department would not be in agreement with this proposal. The CCPC has no regulatory role for any specific sector in which it has or has not carried out an investigation into alleged breaches of competition law. Neither would this Department see itself as having a role, as the regulation of cemeteries does not fall within the remit of this Department but rather it falls within the remit of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government.
Yours sincerely,
_pp Colette Reilly______
Kieran Grace
Principal
Competition & Consumer Policy Unit
Tel.: +353.(0)1.631.26.76
FAX: +353.(0)1.631.25.52
e-mail:
LoCall no.: 1890 220222