Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the Minister's ideal world everybody can compete on price. What we have, however, is not ideal. Instead, we have a number of large multiples using their size and market power which we cannot measure because we do not know what their profits are to abuse the price relationship between supplier and retailer. There is no sense in a small business owner trying to negotiate prices with a grower when the large multiple next door has the might of its organisation to do the same. Of course, it will get a better deal. It is not a case of the multiple being more efficient but of the smaller operator not having the same resources.

In regard to alcohol, I reiterate that there absolutely is a public health demand for a restriction on its use as a loss leader. We have seen what has happened since it became possible to sell alcohol at any price and in an uncontrolled environment, which is what is happening in supermarkets throughout the country. I will come back to this issue on Report Stage, even if I have to specify products. It is time the Minister's Department took the lead on a public health issue instead of waiting to see what changes a health strategy might propose. The Minister's ideal world in which everybody competes on price and the more efficient businesses secure the better price is not reflective of reality. The multiples have evaded efforts to discover information on their operations in this country or have some light shone on their financial figures and they are using these figures to abuse their dominance. They are running the show and calling the shots and this legislation will do nothing to change it.