Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

Freedom of expression is one thing that is left in the country. Everything else is gone.

The two for one mechanism will not work. People in rural Ireland will have to travel 30 or 40 miles for groceries and services. I appeal to the Minister of State to amend the legislation. My party has been the backbone of rural Ireland and it has always enjoyed supporting the small, entrepreneurial person. We have never been associated with big business, which will damage our society, grocery industry and small people.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul and other socially minded organisations, which I respect because they look after needy people in our society, are opposed to this legislation and they made presentations in this regard to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. If it were not for the committee chairman, Deputy Cassidy, we might not even be here. He put a mechanism in place to interview all the various agencies concerned with the order. Very few came up with proposals that would enforce what we want. This legislation has been imposed on us by an external organisation or by faceless people in another area. If the Minister had followed the joint committee, we would not be here now. This is an all-party committee comprising members of different political persuasions who have different views on society and ideologies but they support what I am saying. I fear we will have nowhere to get our newspaper, pound of butter or tea and sugar, which is part and parcel of the fabric of life. Predatory pricing must be ruled out. We will concede everything else if the Minister of State rules that out.

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