Since Tesco's arrival in Ireland two years ago, Michael Campbell has been a vocal critic of the British supermarket group's tactics. As head of RGDATA, which represents 4,000 independent retailers in Ireland, he denies he has been "gunning for Tesco" but makes no apology for his stance.

"I have criticised them all, Tesco, Dunnes Stores and Superquinn over its recent `hello' money controversy," he says.

While some people may have seen Mr Campbell's various criticisms as sniping at Tesco, the public took notice three weeks ago, when RGDATA produced a survey which found the supermarket group had overcharged customers on a number of items. The ensuing controversy, poorly handled by Tesco according to those in the industry, saw the group issue a fulsome apology through newspaper advertisements last week.

The advertisements sought to clarify how the 22 products across six stores in the RGDATA survey came to be overpriced. The company claimed the problem was considerably smaller than had been suggested.

Mr Campbell says he is "surprised and appalled that their systems appeared to be so sloppy".

He says 90 per cent of shoppers never check their receipts. The amount overcharged was around 3 per cent. On Tesco's turnover this could amount to extra revenues of more than £30 million (#38.9 million) a year, according to Mr Campbell.

In 17 years with RGDATA, Mr Campbell has never shirked a battle. Tesco's arrival, through the purchase of the Quinnsworth/Crazy Prices chain of stores for £640 million, saw him move up a gear. "We said it would be bad for Irish suppliers and Irish shoppers and my members, the retailers. We made a very strong case to the European Commission that it would be a distortion of trade and the deal should not go ahead.

"You had a company with a £15 billion turnover, overlaying a small country and a chain of stores with a £1 billion turnover," he says.

"Tesco was into petrol retailing, convenience stores, superstores, etc," he says. "Tesco was particularly threatening and we knew they were bringing nothing to this country but their size."

Tesco's combined size - in Britain and Ireland - concerns Mr Campbell. "They could bypass all systems in Ireland if they wanted to. Within two months they could ship in almost every product they need from Britain," he says.

He says Tesco could centralise supplies from Britain and would need to buy very little in Ireland. This, he maintains, could affect his retailers down the line - if suppliers went out of business as a result, where would his members get their goods?

However, this has not happened. "I think it would have happened, except that there was a new awareness among politicians on the issue."

Mr Campbell claims that Tesco could take out any competitor in the market - including Dunnes Stores and Superquinn - if it wanted to, because of its size. "Size needs a watchful eye - whether it's airlines or supermarkets," he adds.

Mr Campbell contends that if Tesco had grown the way it wanted to, it would now have 40 per cent of the grocery market. However, the current cap on the size of new supermarkets to 32,000 square feet, is helping to curb its growth, he believes.

Environment Minister, Mr Noel Dempsey, issued a directive on the size of supermarkets last summer, pending a review of the retailing industry. The results of that review are due shortly.

Although it is said his organisation was responsible for the Minister's action, Mr Campbell maintains RGDATA was just one of several groups which lobbied on the issue. The Minister was already aware of the social and environmental issues involved in allowing the development of huge edgeof-town or out-of-town centres, which could ultimately push smaller retailers out of business and leave town centres like ghost towns, he says.

Mr Campbell says there should be a policy on retailing which encompasses all aspects of the industry - regional, suburban, urban, rural and local centres. At present, he says, the balance is about right - independent retailers hold 45 per cent of the market in the Republic, the multiples hold the remainder.

He believes - and this is expected to be recommended in the consultants' review - that there should be a properly co-ordinated approach to retailing. "At present you have town centre competing against town centre, and local authority against local authority for shopping centre developments."

He says county and city managers are often in favour of such developments because they need the financing that rates will bring in. "They also take the view that if I don't give permission for the development, then the local authority in the next town will do so," he says.

Mr Campbell points out that such criteria do not necessarily make for good retail planning and development.

Issues such as planning take up an inordinate amount of his organisation's time, he says, and is extremely costly both financially and in terms of general resources.

The past number of months have seen the multiples come in for some criticism. Among them has been Superquinn chief executive, Senator Feargal Quinn, whose public image was damaged when there were complaints he was seeking "hello money" - or "support payments" as he called them - from suppliers for stocking their products.

Mr Quinn claimed the customer benefited through lower prices. Mr Campbell dismisses this. "Say Quinn saves £5£10 million and passes it on to the customer for a while. In the meantime, a number of independent bakers or butchers go out of business, because they can't compete. They don't get these subsidies to run their businesses," he says.

"The practice is totally unacceptable and I am surprised the Director of Consumer Affairs, Carmel Foley, has not taken Superquinn to the High Court."

Mr Campbell's office has a full-time staff of four and deals with around 6,000 queries a year. Representing 4,000 of about 5,000 independent retailers, his constituents include 600 garage forecourt shops and owners of Mace, Supervalu, Spar and Centra shops as well as shopkeepers not affiliated to franchises. When he began working in RGDATA there was 12,000 shops. "The number has come down, but the quality has gone up," he says.

Mr Campbell talks passionately about retailing. In fact, he was born into it - his father ran a shop in Dublin which he worked in for five years after leaving school at 16. He then worked in various sections of Erin Foods for 15 years.

He was also employed by Philip Morris and Wilson Hartnell before becoming chief executive of Mace, a post he left for his current job. "I think I understand retailing," he says.

He is not sorry he did not keep on the shop. Although he might be financially better off if he had, he says he was not prepared to take the financial risk. He is conscious of the commitment and "sleepless nights and stress" involved for today's store owners, who borrow "£500,000£750,000 for their businesses and worry about how to pay it back over seven or eight years".

Mr Campbell believes Irish retailers are among the best in Europe, in terms of quality, hygiene and convenience. "Try buying a bottle of milk in France at 8 p.m. on a Sunday evening," he says.

Independent retailers stay open longer than supermarkets and have high overheads, says Mr Campbell. Consequently, these shops are more expensive. "I think people are prepared to pay a little bit more for convenience," he says. "However, we have to be constantly on our guard and we still haven't got it all right."