Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late for the start of the meeting. I thank the representatives of Lidl for their presentation. On the issue of labelling and support for local produce, it is welcome that Lidl labels produce as produce of Ireland if the products have been produced in Ireland. Mr. McGrath might comment on how much of that is in response to consumer demands and concerns about whether products sold in Lidl have been sourced in Ireland? Is it because Irish consumers are demanding Irish products? Is that the reason for the change in labelling policy within the company?

Regarding the code of conduct, the representatives are at a disadvantage because they were the last to appear before the committee but it has amazed me how remarkably similar all the responses by the multiples were to the code of conduct. The paragraph detailing their response could almost be copied from everybody else's presentation. It also sets off alarm bells in my head when I hear all the companies making the same comments about a code of practice. If everybody is so concerned about it, it is probably something that should be done because it signals that there is something wrong and that it needs to be addressed.

Specifically on the code of conduct, Mr. McGrath mentioned that Lidl has 3,059 employees across 140 locations in Ireland. He said they were a team which he believed to be the best in his sector and of which he was very proud, yet Lidl refuses to talk to its employees' union about concerns that its members have. I am aware the workers appear to have some serious concerns about the way they are dealt with as a company. That may signal deeper problems across the company. Mr. McGrath referred to people being business partners but surely employees are business partners also. Employees being motivated, willing to work and happy in their job reflects well on the company and could deliver increased sales and so on. As a company Lidl does not deal with the workers' union and does not respond to it when it corresponds with the company. How does that tie in with the way it deals with its suppliers?

As a culture within the company that could be worrying.

On the UK code of practice, it was said that Lidl could only attest to the cost of implementation and not its efficacy at this juncture because the code is so new. That is fair enough. Is it possible to outline what the costs of its implementation have been in terms of a percentage cost of the overall turnover of the company?

All the multiples that have appeared before us have said they have very good procedures and practices in place, that they deal very well with all their suppliers and that compliance checking goes on already, yet they say that it will be a huge extra cost to comply with the code of practice. That does not ring true because if one is already doing something, then one could ask where the costs arise. I accept there might be initial costs in terms of checking the legislation and making sure that systems are in place, but if the systems are so good already there should not be a big problem in that regard. I would welcome some elaboration on the point. I had one other issue to raise but I have temporarily forgotten it.