Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are seeking to deal with abuses that affect small suppliers in the supply chain where potentially unfair terms are being applied. We have seen those terms and are taking steps to regulate so that they cannot apply. The legislation does not seek to introduce new financial disclosures because one cannot establish financial disclosures for one sector and not another. That would be disproportionate. It is not a question of whether some grocery chain would pull out of the country but of saying that we will set up a system of financial disclosure that will not apply elsewhere. I do not believe Ireland should do that. Ireland should have a level playing pitch in respect of financial disclosure requirements. We should set laws that enterprises should comply with in terms of governance and taxation obligations. All of these obligations should be fair and apply equitably and equally across all sectors. We cannot start to introduce different rules for different sectors. We are seeking to protect those who might be vulnerable and make sure that practices that would render them vulnerable are not so.

There is plenty of work being done to protect consumers. My Department, through the National Consumer Agency and others, provides price comparisons, allows people to see what is going on in different areas and there are substantial differences in the charges for all sorts of products, including financial products. They are regulated. We do not seek to go beneath them to look for declarations of a company’s profitability in sectors where one insurer is offering terms on a different level to another insurer. We seek to inform consumers and let them make their own choices.

It is my duty to provide a level playing pitch within which enterprises can operate, set obligations that we will apply uniformly and deal with abuses where they arise. In this case that is what I am doing. An abuse has been identified in this supply chain and we are moving to deal with that.