Coalition won't force supermarkets to publish profits as opposition says Irish public being treated as ‘cash cow'
The Minister or State at the Department of Enterprise, Niamh Smyth, said the Government is examining how it can give the Consumer Protection Commission more powers.
She was responding to a Dáil motion tabled by the Social Democrats calling for supermarkets with an annual turnover of €10m or more to have to publish their full audited financial accounts, and for fines to be imposed on those that do not.
The party's TD for Wicklow, Jennifer Whitmore, who said the cost of living is 'out of control' and nowhere is that more evident than on the supermarket shelves. 'The scale and the speed at which prices are increasing is astronomical and there is no sign of it slowing down,' she said.
'In a few short years, the costs for families has increased by €3,000 per year. Grocery costs are now skyrocketing at three times the rate of inflation,' she said.
'A person can now spend €50 on groceries and carry them out in their hands," she said adding that this is 'not a niche issue' and affects middle-class families as well as poorer ones.
Minister Smyth said the Government could not support the proposal for supermarkets to publish profits, because it does not align with EU laws. But she said the Government acknowledges the concerns of families around rising costs and accepts 'food inflation has had a tangible impact.'
She said: 'We are progressing legislative reforms to enhance the CCPC's enforcement powers, including the ability to impose stronger sanctions for breaches of consumer protection law.'
'This will ensure that anti-consumer or exploitative practices can be tackled more effectively and with greater deterrent effect.
'It is intended to introduce turnover-based fines for serious breaches of consumer law, ensuring that penalties are proportionate to the scale of the offending business.'
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The Labour Party accused the Social Democrats of introducing a 'copy and paste' version of a Bill that it previously tabled.
Its spokesperson on finance, Ged Nash, said the grocery market in Ireland is worth at least €8 billion a year but there is no transparency around profits.
'Many of us have long suspected that consumers in Ireland are being gouged by large supermarket chains that use their operations as a cash cow,' he said.
'However, without full transparency on profit levels, it is very difficult to prove this. It is also very difficult for the consumer regulator, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, to do anything other than issue bland statements because, in reality, it has no teeth.'
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