Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The other side of that coin is that some of these exclusive arrangements can be detrimental to competition and competitive pricing. They could have had the impact of keeping prices artificially high. We held a significant debate on this matter in the context of the groceries order and so forth.

There is no question that the market has changed. The convenience sector has grown considerably. From appearances, it seems that price is not a determining factor. Convenience, however, is a factor in that people continue to pay over the odds but are happy to do so because of access issues and so on. I would be interested, in the context of competition law, to see if there are breaches and if people are being discriminated against by the practices of certain firms.

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