Employers' group Ibec has urged its members in the food and drink industry to lobby TDs on the importance of maintaining the Groceries Order, which prevents retailers from selling goods below their wholesale invoice price.
In an e-mail to members last week, Ibec gave details of meetings of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour parliamentary parties scheduled for September. It said it was crucial to increase pressure on TDs in relation to the order.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, is to review the future of the order next month, following a public consultation process. "It is vital that in advance of these meetings that all Food, Drink Industry members contact TDs of the relevant parties to stress the importance of the Groceries Order to the future of their business," the e-mail said.
It also urged that they highlight "the employment aspects" of their business.
Ibec recommended that its members take issue with assertions made by the Competition Authority, which is calling for reform of the order. "The Authority has massaged Central Statistics Office data to support their views. Their claims are unsubstantiated and are flawed in a number of areas.
"The comparison between food prices and clothing and household consumer durables is misleading: 80 per cent of the food we consume is domestically supplied [incurring Irish costs] whereas virtually all clothing/consumer durables are imported from much lower cost countries." Ibec said the authority's comparison stopped in 2004, as food prices started to fall.
