The draft report on these proposals has been before the Committee for some time. A good deal of consultation took place with the Irish Housewives' Association, the Consumers' Association of Ireland, RGDATA and the Incorporated Law Society. We can take first the part of the draft report dealing with contracts negotiated away from business premises, or doorstep selling. If anyone would like to raise anything I will gladly deal with it.
Doorstep Sales and Unit Pricing.
Does any Member wish to raise any queries on doorstep selling?
Paragraphs 1 to 14, inclusive, agreed to.
The second part of the draft report relates to marking and display of the prices of foodstuffs, or unit pricing in other words. The idea is that the unit and actual price of certain foodsuffs should be displayed That should help to contain inflation. Some exceptions to the unit pricing proposal are mentioned in the draft report. The Sub-Committee welcomed the proposal in principle.
When mentioning the unit price and the selling price is Senator Mulcahy also referring to the grading of the foodstuffs?
The quality of the product is not covered by this proposal.
They are all supposedly sold now under an EEC grading system. If a housewife goes into a store and she cannot see that it is graded a Class 1 product, for example, as well as seeing the price and unit size, she could very easily be misled. It has been known to happen fairly frequently. As this is one of the criteria I thought it could be important.
That aspect is covered by another Directive. This one is purely about unit pricing.
There is a Directive covering the grading of vegetables.
Paragraphs 15 to 25, inclusive, agreed to.
Draft Report agreed to.
Ordered: To report accordingly.
I am glad to see that Senator Robinson has arrived at the right time. Perhaps we could give Senator Robinson a few minutes to collect her notes.
I suggest we use the few minutes to refer to the minutes of the previous meeting.