Legislation to remove the Groceries Order and strengthen competition will effectively open the door to "hello money", discriminatory practices and price fixing, Fine Gael has claimed.
The party's enterprise spokesman Phil Hogan told the Dáil that his party could not accept the Competition (Amendment) Bill because it replaces the Groceries Order "with something worse. It adds a ridiculous, needless 'get out' clause for all those who wish to abuse their market dominance and eliminate the competition."
But Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin, who introduced the Bill to remove the Groceries Order, said the order "did not provide the type of protection that many people thought it did for either suppliers or for small independent retailers". The new Bill would strengthen the Competition Act and he stressed it would prevent any retailer from being forced to make "hello money", or money to pay for advertising or display of grocery goods.
He pointed out that "our competition laws are not designed to protect competitors. They are designed to protect competition".
He said there was no provision in the Bill to prohibit predatory pricing because it is already included in the 2002 Competition Act, which outlaws abuse of dominance.
But Mr Hogan claimed the State would now depend completely on EU law which was "untested in this jurisdiction under the Competition Act".
Labour's spokesman Brendan Howlin said the Minister was taking a very risky strategy in the new legislation. He noted the Minister made no prediction about the potential impact of the competition law in cutting prices.
