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

This issue was discussed previously. It really boils down to what we can reasonably expect this legislation to do. What we are seeking to do in this legislation is to regulate contracts between suppliers - typically smaller suppliers - and larger retailers or vice versain the case of small grocery shops with larger wholesalers. We cannot guarantee the viability of any individual player in such a contract arrangement. The world changes and some businesses rise and some fall. Some products produced by primary producers cease to be produced the way they were and some other product is adopted. This goes back to what we are trying to achieve.
We are not trying to put a floor on prices, which some people have advocated. One cannot do that. One cannot allow any producer, by it large or small, to insist that it get a certain price. That would not work in any marketplace. What we are trying to do is put in a recognition of the importance of the sector but not in a way that seeks to deliver a particular outcome because we just could not do that. What we are trying to do is regulate different relationships in the supply chain, "hello money", abuse of promotional arrangements, unfair terms in respect of wastage or loss of products and suppliers who suddenly change the forecast use of a certain product and put all that back on the primary producer. I know that representing the area he does, Senator O'Brien would know all about those difficulties.
That is what we are trying to achieve but we cannot pretend that we can deliver a certain outcome and make any particular enterprise viable and sustainable regardless of the marketplace. What we are trying to do is put in a citation and this is the citation section of the piece. It is against the broad objectives against which we decide the details of the regulation. The citations must be realistic and open. These are the policies and principles upon which the regulations will be based. They must be reasonable.
While I can understand the motivation behind the amendment proposed by Senators O'Brien and Wilson, in practical terms, we must make do with more modest ambitions we can deliver through policy. We are not in the business of trying to set prices that deliver outcomes in terms of the viability of a particular business. That is beyond our ken, which is why the wording we chose was done carefully, having consulted with parliamentary draftsmen and got legal advice as to what sort of reasonable framework we can put in place based on the sort of policy instruments we are trying to develop here. This was the background so it was not without thought that we rejected this but I cannot accept the Senator's amendment.