Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I welcome our guests here today. Over the past few months we have had detailed discussion with many large multiples and all the shareholders involved in this issue. Like Deputy Pringle, I am not convinced by the arguments some of the multiples have made regarding the issues that seem to come up regularly. Three players in the grocery sector dominate 70% of the market, Tesco, Dunne’s and Super Valu. That seems very uncompetitive to me. Do the witnesses have a view on that or do they think it is healthy? If not, where do they think we should be going?

Groceries in Ireland seem to cost 17% or 18% more than the average price in 27 other countries. That is a substantial percentage above the average in other EU countries. If the Irish market is very competitive how come the prices are 17% higher than everywhere else?

The National Consumer Agency said it received very few complaints in 2006. Is there a reason for the absence of complaints? Suppliers in particular are very much afraid to complain. Last week I told the Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development about a particular supplier which I had visited in my constituency in the past couple of weeks. It supplies 55% of a certain product in the country to a certain supermarket, a substantial amount of product to supply, and it would be afraid to make a complaint. It told me that it has to pay money up-front in order to get onto the shelves of that particular supermarket. It specified that there was one particular supermarket above the rest that would look for extra money. I understand that is a very delicate matter. Do we need to get to the bottom of some issues? Why should a supplier have to pay extra money? At the end of the day the consumer pays. That ties into my point about our grocery costs being 17% higher than those anywhere else in the EU. This is an issue that needs to be addressed. We have had a very worthwhile discussion over the past couple of months with almost all the people involved, with one exception, who did not grace us with her presence. We have to deal with what we did get.

Codes of practice are the kernel of the matter. There has been an independent adjudicator in place in England for a very short time. Does the National Consumer Agency have any indication how that is working out and would it be in regular contact with its counterparts on the other side of the pond about that system? There has been a great deal of talk about whether it should be a voluntary or a statutory code. Does the National Consumer Agency think we should go down the voluntary road? I think anything that is voluntary will not happen. It needs to be mandatory. What is the agency’s view on that matter?

Deputy Pringle mentioned the compliance cost and some of the multiples reminded us several times that they have a very good structure in place whereby they are able to assess everything. In view of the fact that it is in place there should not be an extra large cost involved. Where does the National Consumer Agency see the compliance costs?

The horsemeat issue earlier in the year could have been a disaster for the country. We discussed that at length at the time. There is a view that one reason for this problem is that it is a cheaper product that is similar to the main product which companies thought they were buying. Is that also a result of competition forcing down the price? Perhaps because of the times we are in when money is scarce the general consumer looks for value for money at the expense of quality. We did not know what we were getting in the horsemeat and we still do not know in some cases. Does the Competition Authority have a view on that issue? Are we losing out because times are difficult and costs are being forced down at the expense of quality? Likewise liquid milk, an area in which I have a personal interest: the price to the producer in recent years has been similar while the price to the consumer has risen gradually. There may have been a small rise in recent times but it would appear that milk is being used as a loss leader in most outlets. Does the Competition Authority agree or am I talking rubbish? To Joe Public who produces the milk that appears to be the case. It is left to one side and used as a special offer to draw the customer in to buy something else.