Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

We know what side the Minister is on. As I said, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment accepted in its report that there is nothing wrong with people using the statistics which best illustrate their case. That is a criticism that might also apply to the Department.

I have serious concerns about the provisions the Minister is introducing in this legislation. The key objection to the groceries order was that it prevented consumers from accessing the discounts which retailers were receiving from suppliers. What part of this legislation ensures that they will be able to access such discounts in future? It was argued that the order's definition of below cost selling maintained an element of resale price maintenance, in effect preventing retailers from passing on wholesaler or supplier discounts. There is little evidence to support the existence of this practice, although there are clear anecdotal indications that people feel it is happening. We needed to see evidence of it in the Department's and the Minister's reports, but we did not get it.

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