Ms Isolde Goggin:

Apologies, I misunderstood the issue the Deputy was raising. I take his point. We would always come back with the answer that there should be greater competition at the retail level. I noted a claim by a witness who appeared before a previous meeting of the committee that the Competition Authority had said that everything is hunky dory in the retail sector. That is not what we said. We observed that greater competition had caused prices to fall - this was in 2009 when there was a great deal of concern about people crossing the Border to shop and the price disparity between North and South - but we also identified many areas within the sector where there was scope for much stronger competition.

Deputy Deering asked whether we would describe the grocery sector as competitive.

One would not generally state that a sector which is so concentrated is particularly competitive. One would ask how easy it is for people to enter the sector and establish themselves and for suppliers to establish other channels to market. It seems to have become somewhat more competitive with the entry of Lidl and Aldi. I will ask Mr. John Evans, who is a specialist in the grocery market, to comment on this matter.