Imelda Henry (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and I welcome the Bill. Having a single functioning body responsible for competition and consumer protection is vital. I join Senator Quinn in congratulating the Government on reducing the number of quangos. It is important that we can amalgamate certain organisations that can go under the one umbrella.

The retail business is very important in this country and it is suffering greatly of late. It is very difficult for smaller retail businesses to compete with bigger retailers. While Senator Barrett mentioned that the grocery sector is very competitive and it is important to be price conscious, the situation is almost impossible for small grocery shops. We are well aware of the number of shops that have closed because they simply cannot compete with the bigger names.

It is also very important to have regulation when it comes to awarding contracts to suppliers and that contracts are adhered to. I wish to raise a particular hobbyhorse of mine which relates to the sale of alcohol. A statutory code on the sale of alcohol was not adhered to and we now have a serious problem with alcohol abuse because of the availability and price of alcohol. I know the Government has a plan to deal with this issue. I just wish it would happen a bit sooner. I hope minimum pricing, the segregation of the sale of alcohol in supermarkets and, in particular, a ban on print media advertising of cheap alcohol happens very soon. I hope that in the autumn something will be done to address the serious problem of the sale of cheap alcohol.

I welcome that the CCPC will have the power to publish a list of relevant grocery goods undertakings that have been found guilty of contravening the regulations and in particular that they will be named and shamed. The Bill is about regulating certain practices, which I very much welcome.