Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I appreciate Senator Coghlan's concern about this issue which was one of the biggest concerns of the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. However, I am satisfied with the Minister's speech yesterday where he clearly defined predatory pricing as below-cost selling on a persistent basis by a dominant firm for the purposes and intent of getting rid of or damaging competitors. Predatory pricing is wrong, it is illegal and is punishable under the Competition Act 2002 by fines of up to €4 million or 10% of turnover, and imprisonment of up to five years. The Minister has a good appreciation of the issue.

The country has moved on and most big towns are now served by the multinationals. The Minister has allowed for that development. When the legislation was enacted in the 1970s no town in the west had a multinational presence. If they came in then they would have wiped out most of the competition by now. Now, however, Irish-based companies compete with them effectively. From experience of my home town, existing Super Valu and Spar shops compete ably with Tesco and Dunnes Stores. Loyalty is a factor and people have a choice, though some smaller rural stores are experiencing difficulties, which they can tackle by providing local post office services not provided in Tesco or Dunnes Stores.

The Minister is strengthening the agencies and giving them a mandate to carry out their task. They will be aggressive in that task and the Minister will drive them to that end. After concerns we had in our committee I am satisfied with the arguments the Minister has put forward and happy that the amendment is not necessary.