Results 2,641-2,660 of 16,285 for speaker:Peadar Tóibín

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: I move amendment No. 31: In page 53, line 30, to delete “prevalent” and substitute “present”.Before I get to the specific amendment, I mention that we are now on the media section. There seems to be no yardstick or threshold contained in the legislation as to what is the maximum cross-media ownership limit. It seems to me it is an arbitrary decision by the...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: The problem I have is that we are dealing with legislation that deals with competition but this section hangs on the fact that there must be competition within the media market but we put no real yardstick or threshold on that. That is a mistake because any Minister or Oireachtas committee can be put under pressure from those same media interests. We have seen media groups exert extreme...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: I move amendment No. 44: In page 73, line 30, after “internet” to insert “and issue a press statement outlining”.This is a very simple amendment which aims to increase the stakeholder consultation and engagement when the draft guidelines are published by the Minister. It is simply an attempt to widen the level of engagement.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: At this stage I wish to signal that I will raise this issue on Report Stage. Why is the Minister limiting this to groceries? Let us consider what happens in the newsagent, the grocery shop or the convenience store. There are quite a number of other products such as phone credit, stamps and newspapers, as well as services such as bill payment, which are part of normal commerce. The abuse...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: I can take it, then, that the Minister is not opposed, after proper consultation with market sectors and proper investigation by his own Department, to the inclusion of other sectors in the Bill in the future.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: I move amendment No. 45: In page 79, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following:“(b) garden plants,”.I tabled this amendment not just because my mother loves garden plants. It is a significant section of the grocery trade and affects a great many businesses. It is anomalous that it has been left out. I ask the Minister to include it.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: I appreciate the Minister's quandary. The Opposition will always clip the ear of a government that does engage in proper consultation. As there is no doubt of that, we cannot give out to the Minister for not seeking consultation. The key point is that the term "a grocery store" does not meet the current market realities. In the current market, grocery stores, and shops in general, have...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: The purpose of Committee Stage scrutiny of legislation is to enable issues that fell through the cracks during the earlier process of consultation and investigation to be brought up. We are all paid to do our job of bringing these issues to the fore. I know how long it takes for the legislative wheels to turn at Government level. It takes longer from the Opposition's perspective because we...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: No.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: Our perspective is that it would widen the number of intermediate suppliers in the supply chain.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: How many firms will be captured by the Bill as it is drafted? How many would be captured - in real terms or in proportional terms - by the Bill if it were amended in the way we seek? I expect the Department would have proportional figures in mind when drafting such measurements.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: The Minister will be aware of numerous examples of businesses which form one company to engage in one activity and another company to engage in a second activity. The use of separate companies enables them to circumvent employment law and constructively dismiss members of staff. I have no doubt this practice will take place in this context if it results in a competitive advantage for the...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: I move amendment No. 49: In page 81, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following:“(a) the importance to and impact on the economic viability and sustainability of primary producers of decisions made at processing and/or retailing level,”.The idea behind this amendment is to ensure a stable environment and economic viability for producers and to ensure this is a key...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: I move amendment No. 50: In page 81, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following:“(2) All retailers defined as relevant grocery goods undertakings must disclose their profits in the Irish market.”.This is an important amendment not only for this legislation, but in the context of dealing with corporate companies. A whole range of multiples do not provide details of their...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: From my perspective, the Minister's job is to manage the jobs, enterprise and innovation sector in a fair manner in the interests of the people and in a manner that allows people who want to work hard, invest, take risks, etc., to be properly and fairly compensated for those inputs into the economy. I also believe that to achieve that, information is necessary. I cannot think of any other...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: Is the Minister suggesting that any of the multiples would pull out of Ireland because they have to come clean and be honest and transparent about their levels of turnover and profit? For as long as I can remember there have been periods of major costs increases in the State. Ministers say from time to time that such and such a multiple is margin- or profit-harvesting. There is...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: Level playing fields are fine if they are fair. It is surely not the Government’s objective to level a playing field with an unfair system. Its objective must be to have a fair system and then level the playing field. I do not suggest this should be limited to any one sector. Transparency, honesty and openness should apply in all sectors. We should seek to maximise the rights of...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: Meath people are in the majority at this meeting so we had better be careful. A recent IPSOS-MRBI poll showed that nine out of ten respondents believe that legislation should be introduced to ensure that farmers receive a fair price. We are here as representatives of the people and that is what we should be seeking to do. Just three out of ten people were of the view that below-cost...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: The WHO has compiled a report which indicates that Ireland has the second or third worst rate of binge drinking in the world. Perhaps it might be useful to take a steer from the Department of Health during the process in which we are engaged and use the legislation before us to try, as is our duty, to solve the massive problem of alcohol abuse.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Committee Stage (15 May 2014)

Peadar Tóibín: I wish to indicate that I would like to raise on Report Stage the issue of franchisees. I would like to make sure that an individual who operates a small firm as an independent but who is tied into a greater franchise is not covered by the onerous tasks that may be involved, because I do not think that is in the spirit of the legislation. With regard to the specific amendment, the logic is...