Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I thank Mr. McHugh, Mr. Kenny and Mr. Barry very much for coming in. I also thank Mr. McHugh for his opening statement. Competitiveness is of the utmost importance in a small open economy like Ireland, which has a population of 5.4 million. A small country provides challenges when it comes to competition because of the size of the market. I would like to talk to the witnesses about the banking sector, the legal sector and the insurance sector but, unfortunately, I do not have time today. Instead, I am going to concentrate on the grocery sector and supermarkets.

The cost of living remains one of the biggest challenges for households right now, and groceries are one of the biggest weekly expenses for many families. Given that, how confident can we be that the supermarket and grocery sector is fully playing by the rules and that consumers are getting a fair deal?

Following on from that, could the witnesses outline how many investigations the CCPC has carried out in the grocery retail sector over the past year and what those investigations have found? How does the CCPC decide which areas or companies to investigate? What does that process look like from start to finish? They are my first two questions.