Results 9,001-9,020 of 14,554 for speaker:Dara Calleary

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: I move amendment No. 56: In page 84, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: "(c) specify Retention of Title for goods delivered until such time full payment is received,".

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: I move amendment No. 54:In page 84, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following:"(a) specify that payments for grocery goods supplied to relevant grocery goods undertakings to be made within 30 days,".It is current market practice that payment terms are being extended to 90 or even 120 days. Many small producers and suppliers cannot afford to sustain this practice, but there is no...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: I welcome the indication that this matter will be provided for in the regulations. It is frustrating, however, that so much depends on those regulations, which we will not see before the legislation is passed. The Minister is saying that regulations cannot be brought forward in advance, but we can safely assume, based on the Government's majority, that what we are looking at here will, in...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: I move amendment No. 52:In page 84, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:“(2) Subject to a grocery goods undertaking choosing to enter into a contract, relevant grocery goods undertakings shall have a contract with a grocery goods undertaking for the sale or supply of grocery goods.”.The legislation as framed is very vague on the need to have a contract between a...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: I am happy to withdraw the amendment if the Minister can give me a guarantee that there will be strong provisions within the regulations on contracts, what they should contain and their enforcement. When is it planned to publish the regulations?

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: The Minister has left out the phrase "having regard to subsection (1)", and that subsection outlines a range of conditions, including "the desirability of the promotion of competitive trade" and "the interests of consumers". There is a range of conditions and this does not give carte blancheto a Minister or supplier. The notion that Kellogg's or similar companies could set the price of Rice...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: The groceries order.

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: Where do we start? I noted the Minister's comments about predatory pricing and retention of title, which he read from the memorandum, but when it came to protecting the big beast he was quite passionate about it. I do not know if the Minister really understands what is happening with small producers. On "Planet Richard" all is lovely and everybody gets on well together. It is all fine,...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: The Minister tried to separate the notion of putting a restriction on grocery operators from the Bill, which contains ten pages devoted to the control and management of grocery goods, and that immediately puts them in a different category. They provide a basic service and there is certainty that many of the operators in the market are providing that service at a significant profit. I have...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: I move amendment No. 51:In page 84, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:"(2) The Minister, having regard to subsection (1) may, from time to time, give a direction that a retailer shall not sell grocery goods at a price that is less than the net invoice price of the goods.".The Minister stated today on a number of occasions that the role of the producer and protecting the...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: I move amendment No. 44:In page 83, between lines 33 and 34, 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,”.Again, I acknowledge the Minister has tabled a similar amendment. Members had a good discussion on Committee Stage on this issue, which...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: I move amendment No. 50:In page 84, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following: “(2) All retailers defined as relevant grocery goods undertakings shall disclose their profits in the Irish market.”.Members had a very long discussion on this issue on Committee Stage and the Minister earlier mentioned the manner in which some large multinationals dance around in terms of...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: They have been allowed to run ramshod and before the Minister says it, I acknowledge my party allowed it to happen. However, I also point out that Fine Gael and the Labour Party were in power at a local government level, where these operators have been allowed to run ramshod through the planning laws for long enough. This is a major issue in respect of competition, the supplier relationship...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: We had a long discussion on this on Committee Stage. There is no sense in us introducing this legislation and restricting its impact to the very biggest of multinational companies. The Minister has spoken today about the difficulties that lie in the relationships between very small - in many cases independent - producers and large multiples. The Bill goes some way to dealing with that,...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: I move amendment No. 29:In page 82, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following:“(b) garden plants,”.The Minister has adapted this to one of his own amendments. We discussed this area on Committee Stage. The list of goods outlined under the grocery goods undertakings in Chapter 5 should include garden plants as it is an area of huge growth. This issue relates to small...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: Reference is made to “such other persons as he or she considers appropriate”. Is there a listing from which those persons will be selected or is it up to the Minister of the day to decide who in his or her view is considered appropriate? Will they be people who hold licences in the sector or have an influence in the sector? Is there a mechanism to ensure transparency and...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: Where is the public element of the requirement? Is it attached to the regulation?

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: My concern is that in the absence of a list some people will have an inside track. A Minister of any Government might have a preference as to who gets selected for consultation. A Minister might owe a political favour to a person who owns a broadcasting licence and might give him or her precedence over someone else. If the Minister could point me to the reference to the public nature of...

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: Yes.

Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2014: Report Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2014)

Dara Calleary: What is that in English?