Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)

Tesco is taking over the lease of a SuperValu store in Virginia, County Cavan. I have been informed that all local suppliers have been told they must be prepared to give a 40% margin immediately on their goods. This is just going to hammer local suppliers. They were supplying SuperValu and, if they want to continue to supply Tesco, they have to slash their prices. They cannot afford to do that. They are already barely keeping their head above water. They have families to support, transport costs, production costs and so on. They are providing fresh meat, some of which is organically produced, and fresh fruit and vegetables.

What we are seeing is a decline in the number of people who are providing that sort of food in this country because of this practice. It is time the Government introduced a ban on below cost-selling. It is something that can be raised with the Minister for enterprise or the Minister for agriculture, because many times it is agricultural produce that is affected. What is happening is devaluing the goods farmers work so hard to produce. I ask that this issue be raised with both Ministers or whoever is the most relevant Minister to examine this and perhaps have a debate on it in the Chamber.