Senator Feargal Quinn, the managing director of Superquinn, has launched a vigorous rearguard action in recent days to convey his side of the "support money" controversy. The original explanation - Superquinn's determination to deliver the lowest prices to its customer - has been flatly contradicted by some of the suppliers involved and there is now a broader message.
Mr Quinn appears anxious to portray Superquinn as a humble Irish grocer making its way in a world dominated by British multiples. His essential argument, that the weight of legislation (in this case the 1987 Groceries Act which prohibits "hello money") falls unevenly on Irish based supermarkets, is not without merit.
It is indeed the case that the legislation is often "unworkable and unfair", since British multiples operating in this State often have a limited buying operation in the Republic. But, while this might explain, it can hardly excuse the behaviour of Superquinn. The reality, as made abundantly clear by Mr Charlie Bird's reports on RTE, is that Superquinn has, at the very least, breached the spirit, if not the letter, of the 1987 Act.
It is not good enough for Mr Quinn to protest that others are engaged in similar practices. The public has come to expect higher standards of Superquinn, not least because of Mr Quinn's success in portraying himself as the acceptable, kindly face of retailing in Ireland. Mr Quinn concedes that some people may now think that his halo has slipped. But the damage is more substantial than this: many Superquinn customers are dismayed and disappointed by the sharp business practices of a company they had come to associate with higher standards.
The irony is that it all seems so unnecessary. Superquinn has a turnover of some £350 million and it is thought to generate very handsome profits. The whole practice of the company flexing its muscle and demanding £500 and upwards from small egg producers and the like as "support money" for its new stores sits uneasily with the standards that Senator Quinn has set for himself as a retailer and, indeed, as a legislator in Seanad Eireann.
As a legislator, it might have been thought that Senator Quinn would have been scrupulous in his adherence to the laws enacted by the Oireachtas. Instead, he is vulnerable to the charge that he refused to comply with the spirit of the 1987 Act and worked to circumvent it; within a year of its enactment Superquinn established Retail Logistics , the company to which suppliers made their "support" payments.
Superquinn's fancy legal footwork may help it to avoid any formal sanction from the current investigation by the Director of Consumer Affairs, Ms Carmel Foley. But in many respects the damage to Superquinn and its squeaky clean image has already been done. Feargal Quinn can repair some of this damage by abandoning the practice of "support" payments and by ensuring that no such practice is used in the new stores planned for Bray, Limerick and Waterford.