Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent) | Oireachtas source

He will be up for sainthood soon - Pope Senator Feargal Quinn. We recently held a very pleasant meeting with a retailer in the US. Beautiful products were presented and the retailer wanted to list them but they also wanted to know how much we were prepared to put forward to support it in its in-house foody advertising magazine. Did we know that four promotions had to be offered and funded by us per year? My product is in on the supermarket shelf of this retailer on the east coast of the US, but let us say there will be 20% off around St Patrick's Day. I, as the supplier, am funding that. I just wanted to provide a reality check. It is a case of: "Yes, we'll list your product but we want you to contribute to our magazine, we'd like you to list out the promotions and also, by the way, there is a display fee at the seasonal times of the year where we're going to give you special new space in our seasonal fixture and there will be a cost to that." Retailers have ways and means. I am not complaining. I am just trying to let everyone know that this is business. We are used to it and are making good margins and good money but one needs to be strong and resilient. We are living in today's world and it is a tough one.

Coming back to the report, I was lucky enough to be at the seven hearings. I will mention one thing I would like everyone to think about.

I ask Senators to consider a foodstuff that is vital to each and every one of us, that being, milk. Between 1995 and 2011, the price of milk for the consumer increased from 77 cent per litre to €1.11 per litre. For the farmer milking the cows every day, the price decreased from 32.8 cent to 32.5 cent. Even if we take nothing more out of my contribution today than this, it says a great deal. I do not know the percentage differences. Not being an accountant, I am not very good with figures. However, if this is meant to be equity, it does not add up.

The bangers demand that retailers' profits be published, but I listened carefully to the Minister of State's remarks on EU law. We must be grown up and straighten our shoulders. Slightly jokingly, I will ask the Minister of State to explain to the House again how Revenue knows exactly what taxes to collect from retailers if they do not publish their profits or accounts. I am sure he knows the answer. Obviously, there is some way of knowing, but it is not allowably transferable to the entire community of a country. It is an interesting issue, albeit not just in the context of retailers and supermarkets, but also in terms of Starbucks and other large global organisations that have been in the news.

The Minister of State lived in Brussels for a few years. As the globe grows smaller, perhaps more transparency is necessary for each country's version of Revenue. It can be difficult. We all want to know whether a retailer is making more money in Ireland than it is in the UK. We do not want to know its business, only whether the prices paid by Irish consumers are unfair. I am not trying to beat the retailer.

On the matter of increasing equity and transparency, was there equity in terms of milk? I do not believe so. I respect that I am a European and that we must have fair trade under EU law, but transparency does not come to mind. Perhaps we need to examine EU law.

I welcome the committee's recommendation on strong local links. In particular, the Musgrave Group made a fantastic submission to us. Speaking as someone deeply embedded in the local artisan food market, SuperValu has sought to help locals, but so has Tesco. Aldi and Lidl are clever, and thankfully so, as they are engaging locally and trying to help people. We cannot beat them down for doing this.

I was worried when I heard that an ombudsman would need to be created, in that it would require more money. At our hearings, retailers stated that costs would travel down the food chain. This sounds like an incredibly business-like approach to amalgamating the two bodies and installing the ombudsman beneath that level.