Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I go back to the background which prompted the legislation. It was on the back of a number of studies carried out by Oireachtas committees of the groceries sector which found that some very large retailers were thought to have a disproportionate influence on the supply chain. It was considered that we needed to regulate contracts in order that small suppliers in the groceries supply chain would be reasonably protected. The process predominantly focused on food items. We are not here to try to write draft regulations for every sector, which is what the Senator's amendment points towards. There was an attempt to obtain a voluntary agreement in the sector, which failed. Recognising the special position of the groceries sector, we moved to introduce the regulatory powers to insert into contracts certain provisions to protect the supply chain. What the Senator suggests goes way beyond what we envisaged. In all these other sectors general competition law protects players in the marketplace. The provision at issue represents a specific response to a specific problem in the groceries trade. I am not disposed to start to stretch out way beyond what was ever envisaged by the Oireachtas committees that had looked at this or considered it during the consultation process we undertook before introducing the legislation.