Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)

I have asked for this Adjournment debate in the context of what has happened here in Ireland and internationally in the banking system. Today, I heard that Barclays bank is to pay €3.1 billion in bonuses on €13 billion profits earned last year. This has become all too familiar in international banks such as Goldman Sachs, and in Irish banks which are lesser in size and international influence, although not in sheer brass neck, and which depend on the state to bail them out when the going gets too tough.

To my mind, one can draw very strong comparisons between this experience and what is happening in our food sector. It has been quite obvious for some time that the major players are fast approaching the "too big to fail" Rubicon. This is a situation that the Minister cannot allow to continue. If these corporations are allowed to carry on unfettered with practices such as hello money and paying unviable product prices to the primary producer or farmer, where will we find ourselves in a short number of years? Indigenous food production and the farming industry will be destroyed and its best international traceability and quality will be squandered under a slogan of bringing the customer the cheapest prices.

Spokespersons for these corporations make much of the fact that food prices are 8.2% cheaper this year than last, but at what cost to their own bottom line? To my mind there is none. They do not publish accounts so we do not know the margins. While the consumer apparently gets cheaper food, the corporation's balance sheet is still intact because the farmer and producer has been squeezed more and more in the past 12 months. This is a totally unsustainable position and the Minister must meet the corporations head on.

I fear it will end in the following scenario. If these companies are allowed get bigger and stronger, the system of food production we have in Ireland and Europe may be undermined to the point where it is no longer sustainable. Large international retailers can source produce from countries which lack our level of agricultural development and good practice. Their farming methods are more intensive because that is the only scale at which profits can be made. If we compromise in quality and safety, we will find ourselves where we are today in regard to banks which are too big to fail. At that stage it will be too late to do anything.

I urge the Tánaiste to take this matter seriously. She must use the legislation at her disposal to deal with the problem and, if that is not sufficient, develop more robust laws. She could start by directing the Competition Authority to deal with the issue immediately.

I understand she shortly will be publishing proposals to ban secret multi-million euro payments within the grocery sector. A draft code of practice for the grocery sector seen by The Irish Times also proposes to appoint an ombudsman to arbitrate disputes between suppliers and retailers and investigate complaints by consumer organisations. The code would prohibit a wide variety of payments currently demanded by big retailers in return for listing or promoting products in their stores. These payments, which have grown significantly in recent years and now amount to hundreds of millions of euro, have been blamed for inflating the cost of groceries for the consumer. The question of whether the code would be voluntary or statutory has been also left open. The consultation paper indicates that the feasibility of a voluntary code depends on the willingness of companies to subscribe to it.

I ask the Tánaiste to put in place these vital safeguards to protect our food industry. She has at her fingertips Fine Gael's Food (Fair Trade and Information) Bill 2009 and I ask her to implement that legislation if she has no alternative proposals.

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