I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to enable and assist the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission better to perform its functions in relation to protecting consumers from abuse by undertakings of a dominant position by imposing unfair purchase prices, for that purpose to amend the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, and to provide for related matters.
The cost of the basic staples on which we all depend has grown enormously in the past 18 months. While grocery inflation has eased for the fourth month in a row, the trusted Kantar index puts growth at 11.5% for the year to September. For months I have likened the trip to the supermarket to do the big shop as akin to visiting the dentist. It is expensive, it fills people with dread and it can often be very painful.
The elevated prices of basics such as eggs, milk and bread over the past two years simply cannot be explained away by the omni-excuse we hear all the time of inflation. The rate of food inflation has been outpacing the general rate of inflation for some time. Wage growth is slow and is being outrun by the high cost of living. The euro in people's pocket simply does not stretch as far as it did two years ago. All the while, corporate profits in Ireland and throughout the EU are at an all-time high. From CSO data to research by the European Central Bank, there is evidence of profit-taking among the large corporates in all economic sectors.
We know that pricing structures in the business of retail are very complex. It is hard to definitively rule out the possibility of price gouging among major retailers, keeping prices high for so long with a slow rate of decline. This is what the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, more or less concluded last summer. A welcome and long overdue assessment of high prices in the grocery sector stated in effect there was no evidence of price gouging of customers by large multiples. How can this definitively be ruled out when nobody has access to reliable information on profit margins and profits more generally? This is, at best, unwise.
The Bill seeks to bring greater transparency to the structure of the large supermarket businesses in Ireland and the sector more generally to end the secrecy, and it is in the interests of the consumer and competition. Last May, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment said, under pressure, that he would take steps that would lead to big supermarket players publishing their profits and being compelled to make the prices they charge their customers clearer. He has taken a vow of silence since. The Bill would address this problem. The Competition and Consumer Protection (Unfair Prices) Bill 2023 would amend the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 and address the fundamental problem, while arming the regulator with real enforcement powers to bring these giant retailers to heel and ensure fair pricing at the checkout. The Bill would allow the CCPC to undertake a deep study and analysis of the costs large retailers incur, the profits they take and the prices they set. The CCPC would be allowed to collect any data it needed to complete this analysis and publish the results. It would bring transparency to this market that has been sorely missing for far too long. While the CCPC would be required to take into account commercial sensitivities when publishing these studies, its prime consideration should be, and ought to be at all times, the welfare of the consumer. If dominant and secretive retailers are not price gouging, then they have nothing to fear from the Bill. If they are, this new legislation would empower the CCPC to bring them to book. Failure to co-operate with a CCPC analysis or providing false information would carry sanctions, including fines or a prison sentence of up to five years.
The Bill seeks to address the problem whereby giant retailers may abuse a dominant market position in what is a very highly concentrated retail market to set either unfair purchase prices for their small suppliers or unfair selling prices to consumers. In addressing this issue the Bill seeks to protect consumers and the producers supplying the supermarket multiples. Instead of paying lip service to this issue, as has been the case by the Government in recent times, the Bill would go further than begging and pleading at the retail forum for supermarkets to play fair. It would compel them to do so once and for all. The Bill would help to reform and modernise the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and arm it with many of the tools it needs to finally deliver a fair deal for consumers at the supermarket checkout.
