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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 6 Feb 1969

Vol. 238 No. 4

Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers. - Trade Monopolies.

79.

asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the date of the last request made to him for an investigation into monopolies in trade; and if he will now state, in the light of the statement of the retail grocers body, whether he will establish a monopoly commission to investigate the effects of foreign capital-controlled supermarkets on the sale of Irish goods, prices, service and the effect on smallholder retailing businesses.

I presume the Deputy refers to his question which was answered in Dáil Éireann on the 20th March, 1968.

The Fair Trade Commission has all the powers necessary for performing its statutory duties of reviewing the conditions which obtain in the supply and distribution of goods and of carrying out investigations where these are necessary. I see no need at present to add to these powers or to establish an additional body. I am, however, keeping myself informed of developments in the distributive trades in general and in supermarkets in particular, and if the situation appears to require it at any stage I will be prepared to consider what measures may be required.

Did the Minister receive representations on this from RsectATA?

Yes, I did. I received a deputation recently in this connection.

Has the Minister given consideration to their representations?

Yes, I have. I furnished the deputation with information in regard to inquiries I had been making over a period. The Deputy will appreciate that one of the difficulties here is lack of precise information. For this purpose, I set up some time ago in my Department a research section to get information on this. I gave the deputation some results of that research and indicated some further action I proposed to take. In turn, they will give me some further information.

What is the result of the research, particulars of which the Minister gave to the deputation? Would he convey that information now to the House?

I do not think it would be wise to do it at this stage.

Is the Minister aware that the Fair Trade Commission have refused to investigate complaints of favoured treatment being given to selected traders such as advantageous advertising campaigns, special promotions, handbacks and special discounts and that the Fair Trade Commission have indicated either that they are powerless or, if not powerless, indifferent to these practices which are far greater than the type of restrictive practice which presumably was in the minds of the legislators when the Fair Trade Commission was originally set up?

I do not think the Deputy is correct in the way he describes the attitude of the Fair Trade Commission to this matter. It is true that there have been difficulties in investigating these matters. Indeed, this was part of the items I had investigated, through my Department, when trying to obtain necessary information about the kinds of practices of which the Deputy complains. This is the kind of information which it is extremely difficult to obtain. As I have indicated, in so far as there are any results available at the moment, I do not think it would be wise or prudent at this stage to make the information public.

Further arising out of the Minister's reply, in view of the fact that a few of the supermarkets in this country are controlled from foreign sources, would it not be simple to undertake some research to determine the amount of Irish goods sold in them? Surely that can be done without any great difficulty?

This is a different question——

It is included in the course of the main question—"to investigate the effects of foreign capital-controlled supermarkets on the sales of Irish goods, prices, service and the effect on smallholder retailing businesses".

It is a separate question from the one I have been replying to. The position is not at all bad in regard to the sale of Irish goods at the moment.

Is this definite?

Yes. The fears expressed in this regard lay more to the future than to the present, I think.

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