Mr. Ciaran Dolan:

I thank the Chairman. The code of practice is what legislators make it to be. The issue of whether it is voluntary or statutory is, to a large extent, immaterial. If we use the UK experience as a template - I do not suggest the Oireachtas be bound by that - we should note it is specifically prohibited to get involved in price and is confined exclusively to processor and retailer. It has nothing to do with farmers. Should any benefit arise, it will not be in the area of price fixing and will be indirect.

I understand, given the nature of the very limited scope of the UK legislation which will only apply to seven or eight retailers with a gross turnover of £1 billion, the cost is in the order of a few hundred thousand pounds. We can spend a lot of time fine-tuning the extent of the problem. There is no doubt that over time the position of liquid milk producers in Ireland will get worse.

The issue of whether the situation in Northern Ireland will pan out may be up for discussion. The matter has been dealt with at European level for the best part of five years. In the absence of anything else, there has been a retuning of balance in terms of competition law in favour of dairy farmers and liquid milk farmers. We should explore the possibility of doing that as a means of strengthening the position of liquid milk producers.

We should not import what is being done in France. I can never get to the bottom of what is done there. Under French law retailers are compelled to disclose information. The members of the committee, as legislators involved in public policy, would not be begging retailers to give them information, rather, they would be compelled to disclose it. If information on producers involved in collective or individual negotiations was disclosed, processors, retailers and consumers would be better informed.

It is important for Ireland, as a major exporter of food, to ensure that there is no substantial dilution of EU competition policy. It is important that the committee bears that in mind, if I may say so. We may want to undermine EU competition policy pertaining to the domestic market only to find we will have difficulties in exporting and getting our products on the shelves of other member states. We need to be careful of that. EU competition policy protects our industry.

We should also ensure, with a more positive or proactive approach, to push this process at European level. There is a danger that in the absence of an EU initiative each individual member state will implement its own domestic law. We could find that we are excluded from prime shelves. In the absence of anything else, it is worth exploring how we can improve the information flow as a basis for a more rational, informed negotiation, and then clarify the law with regard to the EU change which has been brought about.