Economist Geoffrey Gray rejoins competition body
The Government has appointed Geoffrey Gray as a member of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).
Gray, currently an executive director at advisory practice Fingleton, will take up the post on 19 January next year.
Before joining Fingleton, the economist had worked on competition enforcement and policy at the CCPC, where he was involved in a wide range of investigations and enforcement cases, market studies, and merger reviews.
‘Invaluable expertise’
Welcoming the appointment, CCPC chair Brian McHugh said that Gray’s expertise would be “invaluable” as the watchdog implemented strengthened laws on competition and consumer protection.
Gray said that he was joining the body as “an exciting time”, as it exercised new powers and increased enforcement activity.
He joins fellow commission members Patrick Kenny and Úna Butler.
The appointment was made by Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, who said that the CCPC’s role in promoting compliance and enforcing competition and consumer-protection law was “vital to supporting fair competition and empowering consumers”.
Consumer-protection fines
The department said that the recruitment of another commission member was continuing, while the CCPC had also begun a recruitment process for two senior directors.
The department also said that it was reviewing the legislative framework governing consumer-protection fines, after repeated calls from the watchdog for stronger penalties.
“Future penalties are expected to align with those applicable to competition-law infringements, ensuring greater consistency and impact across the regulatory landscape,” the department stated.