Ms Angela Robinson:

As the Minister has said, we looked very closely at the Groceries Code Adjudicator. We had a lot of engagement with that body. One of the significant issues arising from it was the level of engagement the Groceries Code Adjudicator had with the suppliers and buyers, which Mr. Collins has outlined he has done since the setting up of the enforcement authority.

We also looked at some observatory type operations being looked at across Europe, as the Deputy will possibly be aware. We looked at the kind of things they are looking at in respect of the price, market analysis and reporting function.

The Deputy will be aware that EU Commission places a greater emphasis on market transparency now. Many member states are looking at setting up models to ensure this price and marketing reporting function, exactly as the Minister outlined earlier, to make available that transparency in the market chain. I would add that one of the difficulties in this legislation is we are trying to combine a very specific EU directive and national legislation in establishing a new office. We tried to navigate that through setting up the enforcement function and providing this analysis of the market. Going back to Deputy Carthy's remarks about the time the legislation is taking, part of that was looking at specific legal aspects to make sure this legislation will stand up to scrutiny. Thankfully, so far the Attorney General is happy with that.