Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This feature exists across the board. The Deputy raised the question of whether these powerful lobbyists exercise influence over people. I am sure they exercise influence and seek to take on powers or rights which are not permitted under competition law, but we must hold out in the public interest. Groups are entitled to express their views but we must make a decision on what is in the best interests of the public and I believe this is in the public interest. I am absolutely convinced this is the right line to draw.

There are various players in the economy. We know the strengths in the marketplace vary over time and small and large businesses must engage with them. We use competition law to try to provide a framework within which this can be as fair as possible. The principle of not allowing price fixing, collusion or abuses of dominant positions are enshrined in the law. The competition and consumer commission will have the tools at its disposal to seek to enforce these provisions. This is the right approach to take.

These are general provisions, and exemptions would have to be made for very clear public policy reasons. The Government, rightly in my view, entered into an agreement with the EU that we would not introduce new exemptions into our competition law because they were not consistent with the public policy we ought to be pursuing. A public policy defence should not and cannot be offered for such exemptions. The line I seek to protect is with regard to long-term interests. In the short term people will give out, but we should hold the line and state there are limits to what groups can do, such as they cannot engage in collusion or price fixing and players which are dominant in the market cannot abuse their dominance. Later in the Bill we seek to set out what are fair terms of exchange in the grocery goods sector, which we know about and which is part of this. This is an important principle and we should seek to hold the line on it.

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