As I said during the debate last evening, there has been, over the past year or so, a significant reduction in the number of co-operatives, and many more amalgamations of various co-operatives throughout the country are in the pipeline. However, I want to sound a note of warning in relation to these developments. It is the objective of the Irish Co-Operative Organisation Society and the Government to rationalise the food industry and the co-operative movement with the object of making it more efficient.
The extension of the public limited company concept to the co-operative movement in recent times slightly worries me. I am disturbed that financial institutions will eventually take control of these public companies and that the influence of the producer of the food will rapidly diminish. I am concerned that at least one merger will occur among the quoted food companies, prompted by institutional investment and pointing to obvious cost advantages for them. It is acknowledged that farmer control of milk supplies will dwindle from about 85 per cent at present to about 30 per cent by 1994. It is important that these facts in regard to development for the future are made known to the producer of the commodity and, through the co-operative movement, to the food producers. This development could remove much of the decision-making process from this country to ones based on the financial and economic viability of firms outside the country. I make this point on the basis that so much money was spent in recent years by various food companies, particularly public limited companies in this country, outside the jurisdiction of the Republic.
Avonmore Foods, plc., the IAWS and various other food companies have spent enormous resources in developing the food industry and their food portfolio in the UK and in the United States in particular. It is estimated that, within the next five years, at least two of the food companies will have less than 10 per cent of their turnover based in this country. That is a measure of the enormous reduction in influence which the present board members of many of our food companies and co-operatives have and which will continue in the context of the global, international and more competitive food companies after 1992. I hope that the overriding concern to satisfy institutional investors will not be achieved at the expense of the food producer and that the existing balance will continue to play a significant role in the future development of the food industry.
I was surprised that the Minister for Industry and Commerce launched a stinging attack on the efforts of Fine Gael in bringing forward the Bill which we are debating this evening, particularly relating to one sector of the economy. The Minister should recognise — as everybody else does — that the food industry makes a very important contribution to the overall well-being of the country. It affects many people, producers, processors and consumers. The Progressive Democrats published the Enterprise (Competition and Consumer Protection) Bill, 1989, which was debated in Private Members' time. Section 2 of that Bill dealt with the abuse of a dominant position in relation to competitive practices. I have no doubt that, with all the publicity and heat which Deputy O'Malley generated at that time in respect of one food company and individuals in relation to a dominant position. He was referring to the Goodman Group who were receiving much publicity at the time. He is now Minister for Industry and Commerce but at that time, as Deputy O'Malley, leader of the Progressive Democrats, he was obsessed with this matter. It is galling to hear the Minister in this House chiding another political party about seeking publicity, although the national interest is at stake.
The Irish food industry is facing an enormous challenge in the context of the Single Market and we are unprepared, as a nation, to tackle the problems of meeting the demands of the 300 million consumers in the enlarged market after 1992. We are not prepared to adequately meet this challenge. Therefore, it is important that the significant developments which have taken place continue to expand to ensure that we have a lean, fit and efficient food industry to make the rapid expansion which is needed to further our export drive and to make our economic situation vis-à-vis our exports even better than it has been over the last number of years.
As I said earlier, Fine Gael are motivated in the publication of this Bill by the desire to take an initial step to outlaw anti-competitive practices in an important sector of our economy. I realise — and I would be the first to admit — that it does not cover all aspects of the national scene, including the professional, business or other very important anti-competitive practices which are evident in the economy. However, it deals with a fundamental and important sector and I would love to see the Minister for Industry and Commerce publishing a Bill as soon as possible to deal with all the other aspects of anti-competitive practices which are so evident. His bona fide attitude in relation to the food industry would be demonstrated if he declared that he was in favour of allowing this Bill to go to a further stage of debate. He could introduce his own amendments if he feels there are inadequacies in the Bill.
As long ago as 1975 the Restrictive Practices Commission called for this type of legislation, yet, 14 years later, very little legislation in that regard has been introduced in the House. I suppose it is an indication of the slow process by which reports are brought to the legislature. In a small, open economy we cannot rely on this approach in the context of 1992 and the development of the Single Market. The legislation we are discussing this evening is important and necessary to deal with many of the anti-competitive practices in a small open economy like Ireland. The willy-nilly development of legislation in this House over the last 20 years has tended to protect restrictive practices and anti-competitive conduct in many sectors of industry, trade and the professional services. The best example to date is in the very sector about which we are speaking this evening, the food industry.
There are wholesale, anti-competitive practices inherent in the food industry in terms of restrictive trade cartel agreements, particularly in prices being paid to producers. How often do Deputies in this House hear of their constituents, particularly producers of food, recalling that they have sold cattle to meat factories — or looked for quotations to sell their produce to meat factories — but, because of the dominance of one individual in the entire beef trade, they find that there is an informal and anti-competitive cartel arrangement for reducing and artificially suppressing the price of their product to the producer of the food?