Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Ms O'Leary that the writing displaying the cost per unit is too small. One would want a magnifying glass with one, never mind a calculator. I smiled when she mentioned nappies because I would be something of an expert in that area. One can buy the large box that hardly fits into the back of the car. They are dearer than buying the small boxes but the manufacturers know one cannot carry all the little boxes out to the car because they fall, whereas they should be cheaper when they are not even taken out of the box.

I am glad to hear the consumers are not driving this agenda because that is not the case. What irritates me are the "Product of Ireland" and "Produced in Ireland" labels. Both are in green packaging but one stating it is produced here. It appears both of them have been made in Ireland. I had the pleasure of buying a bag of sugar labelled "Product of Ireland", which are still being sold in the multiples. That is a subject close to my heart. Neither the bag nor the sugar is produced in Ireland but apparently it is poured into the bag here. That is nonsense of the highest degree. When we have a sugar industry here again we will have to compete against that. That is one issue.

Regarding our lines on imports, there was a feeling in the tillage industry, which is minor but important and in which I am involved, that if there was enough water in Cork Port, Foynes or any other port we did not need a tillage industry because all the product could come from overseas. That was the view until last year when we found ourselves in the midst of a fodder crisis. For many people in the centre of Dublin a fodder crisis would have only hit home when the dog nuts were not available in the multiples. However, for those of us living in the rural areas it was incredibly important. We need to protect our native industries, which is not being done.

A tipping point will be reached here because food prices may get very high if we do not protect our fragile food industry. It is fragile because in a sense our agriculture industry has held back a rise in inflation for almost 20 years. When I got out of milk production almost 20 years ago the price of a litre of milk was 26 or 27 pence a litre or £1 a gallon. It was still close to that price a while ago. We cannot continue to absorb those costs. When this correction is made it will be sudden and painful, and the consumer will pay for it. Unfortunately, they will not thank us for our inaction at this time.

Does Mr. Kenny believe there is a place for a legal support agency for small and medium enterprises that do not have the resources for these huge contract documents about which he spoke? I have come across that in my business. It is frightening when one has to sit across a team of perhaps six or seven people all of whom are experts in their own areas, they hand one a document and one is wondering what to do with it. It is another area we need to examine. I ask Mr. Kenny for his opinions on that.