The head of the new National Consumer Agency doesn't like the term "rip-off Ireland", writes Laura Slattery

"It's too emotive. There is rip-off Britain, rip-off France," says Ann Fitzgerald, who is chairwoman of the interim agency, having overseen the publication of the Consumer Strategy Group's report into the plight of the Irish consumer.

"Yes, costs are high, but they are not the highest across the euro zone and I think there is an element of people being willing to pay. Maybe we're soft touches."

But Ireland Inc does need to change its attitude to consumers as well as the other way round, Fitzgerald believes. The agency started as it means to go on, by recommending and securing the abolition of the Groceries Order, which legally prevented retailers from passing on discounts to consumers.

Last weekend, a survey by Shoppingbill.com suggested that prices on a basket of goods from Tesco, Dunnes and Superquinn had increased since the abolition, despite confident assertions that the price of food covered by the order would fall by 9 per cent if it was removed.

The finding led to a spat earlier this week between Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Phil Hogan, who opposed the abolition and pointed to the survey as evidence that he was right, and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin, who accused Fine Gael of masquerading as the consumer's friend.

Fitzgerald says she is not going to get involved in a political bunfight, but she echoes the Minister's line that it is too soon to assess the impact of the abolition.

"Getting rid of the Groceries Order was a good idea and I am very glad it happened. Six weeks is too early to judge, but the ball is really in the retailers' court. It's up to them to pass on the discounts," she says, adding that the Consumer Price Index will be the definitive measure of price trends following abolition.

The real issue about the Groceries Order, she says, is that it was removed despite intensive behind-the-scenes lobbying by the vested interests hoping to retain it.

"I believe we will look back upon the abolition of the Groceries Order as a pivotal point in Irish society. For far too long, issues that have been of real importance to consumers have been debated behind closed doors," says Fitzgerald, who took up her position as agency chairwoman on a full-time one-year contract basis on Tuesday.

Educated, informed consumers have a better chance of getting what they want, which is why the National Consumer Agency has produced wallet-sized shoppers' rights cards for distribution by retailers.

It is also working with Retail Ireland, a division of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (Ibec), and Chambers Ireland, to develop a code of conduct for dealings with consumers.

The Republic's consumer policy has lagged behind other European countries such as the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands, where there is greater recognition that the Government, business and consumers are in partnership together.

Here the focus has purely been on the enforcement of consumer protection legislation rather than conducting research, providing information and lobbying on behalf of consumers at policy decision level.

Fitzgerald gives the impression that, under her remit, consumer affairs will mean more than just keeping a close eye on the price of a pint on a sporting weekend.

Big-ticket items such as construction industry standards, the unregulated world of overseas property, rising energy prices and competition in the health insurance market are all on her "to do" list, but it is a list that expands by the day. With so few resources at the moment, the agency has to pick its targets.

The legislation that will establish the agency on a permanent basis is expected before the end of the year, at which point the agency will merge with the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs (ODCA), which has about 60 staff.

In the meantime, Fitzgerald is hoping the Minister will loosen the public purse strings and add to her current full-time staff of three, in order to facilitate more research. "There is no point jumping up and down unless you have something solid to say," she says.

At the moment, its research is a mixture of external and in-house. For example, it will engage external consultants for its response to the energy regulator's paper on price increases, but it is also using its consumer call centre to identify trends in consumer dissatisfaction.

More than 6,000 calls have been made to the consumer helpline since January, on top of the calls received by the ODCA, and the call centre's contract has now been renewed.

The calls have revealed that faulty motor vehicles, domestic building services, confusion about sterling and euro prices, and delivery of white goods and furniture were among consumers' most common bugbears.

But the top source of complaints, accounting for one in 20 of calls, was faulty mobile phones. Consumers reported poor service in retail outlets, misinformation and lengthy delays in waiting for handsets to be repaired.

"The mobile phone providers' policies vary and we will be talking to them about change in due course," says Fitzgerald.

The National Consumer Agency has no powers to force a business or any organisation to change its behaviour. "My philosophy is that successful businesses will respond to the needs of their customers. We fully expect them to respond positively. What's good for business is good for consumers."

Fitzgerald, who says she is making a conscious effort to be a more pro-active consumer herself, says the agency hopes to encourage consumers to drive competition by switching providers.

Earlier this week, it called for greater transparency and simplicity in the health insurance market in its submission to the Competition Authority and Health Insurance Authority's consultation on how to improve competitiveness in the market in light of VHI's dominant position.

In any market, there is a risk that complexity can be used as an excuse to keep consumers quiet - deliberate obfuscation hampering their ability to make an informed choice without torturing themselves with detail.

"All the crap" that people have to go through to get a good service has a significant economic cost, she concludes.

Based on a research formula used in the UK, the cost of "consumer detriment" in the Republic - or the loss of innovation and efficiency that occurs when consumers put up with faulty or overpriced goods and services - is €840 million a year.

The National Consumer Agency can be contacted at www.irishconsumer.ie or on its helpline at 1890 432 432.