Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I fully support everything Senator Bannon said. Big retail store such as Woodie's are now branching into electrical goods. I resent that because it is unfair to the small trader. If this directive is brought in as planned, it will wipe out small traders because huge multinationals will come in that have already been involved in the electrical wholesale business. It is grossly unfair as the directive would wipe out smaller businesses. I do not know why the Minister is raising his eyes to heaven. Those involved would have to bring in storage facilities, increase insurance liability and deal with other risks as well. Exceptions to the directive should be made for the smaller trader, unless Fianna Fáil is in favour of big multinational companies from abroad taking over the country.