Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have reached an important point in the legislation because this issue boils down to whether we know what we are doing. These amendments relate to transparency regarding the food and household goods bought by families and individuals. We need to know what are the sales of the large organisations in question and what costs they incur when they buy the goods they sell. The power of these companies over their suppliers is so great that they are, in effect, cash and purchasing managers, rather than companies providing a distribution service to customers. Their customers come by car or other means of conveyance and engage in a form of self-distribution by taking home the household goods and services they purchase. It is of paramount importance, therefore, that some fairness applies in respect of the costs and profits of these companies.

Ascertaining who owns the operations of the large retail companies, what are their gross profit margins and how much cash they control would be a form of quality control in this sector of the economy. Whereas these companies are paid by their customers upfront at the tills, they do not pay their suppliers for two or three months, which means they have a mountain of cash in their operations. Transparency is needed and now is the time to provide for it. We have arrived at a crossroads and it is time to be assertive rather than beholden to the companies in question. The only reason large retail operations have located here is that there is good money to be made.

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