Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister and his officials for their courtesy even if we will have to agree to disagree. Unfortunately, we see this Bill as weakening a number of key protections for consumers and relaxing certain regulations dealing with the relationship between suppliers and the major multiples without any obvious benefit to the consumer. An overriding principle of my party is that we should protect all sectors equally from predatory pricing and thereby ensure a level playing pitch. I accept the Minister is equally opposed to predatory pricing but, unfortunately, we differ on how this should be implemented. I considered the protections should be explicitly stated in the Bill but, on advice, the Minister has taken a different view. However, I accept the Minister's assurances that he will reflect further on these matters before the Bill comes before the Dáil. I do not doubt that issues will continue to arise.