CCPC targets fake reviews, AI scams and bid-rigging in 2027-2029 plan

On cost of living, the commission will investigate affordability in essential markets, naming retail pharmacy as an example. It is currently examining pharmacies, with a report due next year. Chairman Brian McHugh said pharmacies matter because every family uses them, but pricing and the path from doctor to pharmacy are complicated and need to be better understood.

McHugh said the commission remains acutely aware of rising energy prices and likely food-price inflation, and continues to monitor both areas closely. He said he is comfortable that rising grocery prices are not the result of a dysfunctional market, pointing to repeated reviews which found Ireland has one of the lowest rates of food inflation in Europe, largely because of discounters in the Irish market.

On digital markets, the strategy promises action on fake reviews, unsafe products sold online and misleading uses of AI. The plan includes a crackdown on AI scams and misleading bots as well as fake reviews, which matters for anyone buying online, relying on ratings or dealing with automated accounts. On compliance, the commission plans stronger enforcement and deterrence for consumer-protection and product-safety law, starting with targeted work where harm is high, including the white-goods sector.

Tackling cartels and anti-competitive conduct, particularly where they affect consumers and public spending, is a central part of the competition enforcement goal. That includes cartels in public procurement. Bid-rigging happens when suppliers secretly agree not to compete or coordinate bids to shape a tender, leading to higher prices or lower quality.

The sums at stake are large. Ireland plans major infrastructure spending under the National Development Plan, with €275 billion earmarked for overhauling infrastructure, while the State spends more than €18 billion each year buying goods and services and carrying out construction such as schools, hospitals, housing and roads. If tenders are rigged, taxpayers pay more than they should.

The commission cites international estimates that bid-rigging in OECD countries leads to states paying 20-30% more. McHugh said international experience shows that, with procurement on this scale, the potential cost to taxpayers could run to hundreds of millions of euro if not billions. He said cartels could account for up to 20 or 30 per cent of price increases on projects, adding of the risk: "That is the scale of harm that's out there."

The commission says the new plan builds on record activity. Over the past three years it reached record levels of competition and consumer-protection enforcement, completed more than 200 merger determinations and secured 14 successful prosecutions. It also helped thousands of consumers obtain redress and prevented more than 500,000 unsafe or non-compliant products from reaching the market.

Reporting on the previous strategy period put that impact in household terms: the watchdog delivered €21 back to consumers for every €1 spent, pulled half a million unsafe products from shelves and refunded €350,000 to Irish airline passengers. Those results span product safety checks, redress work and enforcement that stops dangerous or non-compliant goods reaching shoppers.

A 2025 case showed how competition work reaches public money. Five people were convicted by a jury in the Central Criminal Court for participating in a bid-rigging cartel, following a CCPC investigation into a tender for publicly funded school transport in the southwest. The commission gained 56 extra staff over its previous strategy as its remit grew more complex, but McHugh cautioned that investigations take time and well-resourced firms can challenge inquiries and sanctions.

"Consumers expect markets to work for them, not against them. When competition is weak, when businesses mislead consumers, whether online or on the high street the CCPC will act." That was McHugh's pledge as the strategy was published, alongside a commitment to help consumers facing cost-of-living pressures, strengthen enforcement, improve compliance and ensure digital markets are fair and transparent.

"We will not hesitate to use our powers where consumers are harmed or competition is undermined," McHugh said, describing the goal as markets that work better for consumers, businesses and the wider economy. He said the commission wants to take on as many cartel cases as possible, but that will take resources: "We really want to take on as many cases as possible but the reality is that will take resources. The more resources we have, the more cases we will take [on]."

A key change sought is fining power for consumer-protection breaches. McHugh hopes the Oireachtas will pass legislation next year giving the CCPC power to fine businesses for breaking consumer-protection rules, as it already can for competition breaches. At present those consumer cases go to the District Court, which generally orders a €1,000 contribution, while under the proposed system the regulator would set fines taking account of the offence, market size, number of consumers affected, harm and repeat offending.

Céim a bhfuil súil léi: D’fhéadfadh an méid seo athrú.

The strategy takes effect from January 2027, with five goals that will shape case selection and market studies. The commission says finding bid-rigging at present mostly depends on reports to the CCPC or cartel members seeking protection through leniency programmes, which is why it is seeking laws to collect, organise and study all public-procurement data.

The Government consulted in 2026 on legislation to provide those screening powers, and the commission says it welcomes a Government commitment to grant them. It is also working with European counterparts on a possible shared detection tool to lower the cost of screening procurement data. For taxpayers, progress on those powers and any rise in bid-rigging investigations will be the measure to watch.

For shoppers, near-term markers include the pharmacy report due next year and continued scrutiny of fuel and food prices. McHugh stressed the commission keeps those markets under review, saying: "We never give any market a clean bill of health." For online users, the test will be visible action on reviews, unsafe listings and deceptive uses of AI.