Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I will not take up more time making arguments I have already made, given that the Minister of State's approach is simply to follow his riding instructions on the matter. However, I will make this final point. The Minister of State said that not all instances of the activities prohibited by subsections (1) to (4) of the new section 15B will necessarily be outlawed. However, subsection (5) provides: "conduct described in subsections (1) to (4) shall not be prohibited unless it has as its objective or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition in trade in any grocery goods in the State or in any part of the State." The import of amendment No. 1 would be that, once that criterion is met because the person contravening section 15B has been deemed to have had the objective of preventing or restricting competition, the person should be considered to have committed an offence. The bar is already provided in subsection (5) of proposed new section 15B, but the Bill currently provides no appropriate sanction once that bar is reached if the activity is not — to use the interesting and amusing phrase employed by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on Committee Stage —"hardcore" prevention, restriction or distortion of competition. Amendment No. 1 proposes that such activities should incur the same sanction as other anti-competitive practices such as predatory pricing, which are criminalised under section 5 of the parent Act.

See this speech in context