Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Minister for his reply and kind remarks. Ten or 15 years ago, it was normal practice for a particular company as a wholesale distributor in any member state to get the exclusive right to purchase the product from the manufacturer and be the sole sales agent into the retail trade across the territory of, for example, the Republic of Ireland. Consequently, all retailers were buying from one distributor at the same basic price subject to the normal laws of discount, volume and so on.

Is the Minister unaware of a practice that has arisen whereby large multiples, be they Aldi, Lidl, Woodies or anyone with substantial purchasing power, can go directly to the manufacturer of the product in question? In the case I am citing, the details of which I can give the Minister, the manufacturer is German. Due to the bulk volumes involved in selling to large retail outlets, the large retailer operational in Ireland can sell at a price less than the wholesale price at which a domestic retailer can purchase from the distributor.

The distributor in this case, an Irish company based in Tallaght, has the sole right to buy from the German manufacturer and sell into the Irish market. If the Minister and I, as competing retailers, wanted to go to Germany to buy that product at domestic volumes instead of large, Woodies-type volumes, we would be prevented from doing so because of the legal contract between the German manufacturing company and the Irish domestic distributor, who is essentially a middle-man. No more, no less. No value is added other than warehousing. In many cases, the products are shifted straight from the manufacturer in Germany to the retail premises in question. Is the Minister saying that in these circumstances, the only redress available to the Irish retailer is to go to the Competition Authority or access the legislation to which he referred?

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