Report on grocery and supermarket trade: The Government's advisory group on consumer prices is expected to recommend the lifting of the ban on below-cost selling, in spite of a report yesterday by an Oireachtas Committee which has recommended it should be retained.
The recommendation was one of 14 contained in a report by the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business on the grocery and supermarket trade.
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has also rejected one recommendation in the report - that he should not have the sole power to lift the current cap on supermarket sizes.
The recommendation followed criticisms from members of the committee that he failed to consult them when he eased the cap to allow for superstores selling durable goods.
Introducing the report yesterday, Fianna Fáil TD Donie Cassidy, who is chairman of the Oireachtas committee, said the ban on below-cost selling in the form of the Groceries Order should remain.
The report did recommend that the current exemption on the ban for fresh products, such as milk and vegetables, should remain.
He said that the retail cap was essential to prevent retailers in town centres and villages being forced out of business because of large out-of-town centres.
"We don't want to see the centres of large towns [ turned into] wildernesses," he said.
Fine Gael enterprise spokesman and committee member Phil Hogan said that people who argued for the lifting of the Groceries Order during the hearings, including the Competition Authority chairman, John Fingleton, had failed to provide evidence that it would lead to lower prices.
"We have assertions only and no evidence unfortunately," he said.
However, The Irish Times understands that the the body charged with advising the Government on consumer prices - the Consumer Strategy Group - is expected to recommend next month that the ban on below- cost selling should be lifted as it is inhibiting competition in the marketplace.
The report will be presented next month to the Minister for Enterprise, Micheál Martin, who will bring the report to Government later this year.
Mr Martin and the Government are expected to embark on a consultation process before making any decision on the recommendations.
The group was established by the Government last year in the wake of concerns about high consumer prices in the State.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Minister for the Environment Dick Roche rejected some of the findings of the report, which said it was concerned that the current retail size cap could be lifted without consultation.
He said that there had been a full consultation on easing the cap in relation to durable goods, which would enable furniture superstore Ikea to enter the Irish market.
"The Minister is in charge of making decisions in relation to the retail planning guidelines, and that's as it should be," the spokesman said.