Grocery planning laws cost consumers

CONSUMERS are not getting the best possible value for money in the Irish grocery sector due to planning restrictions.

A report by the Competition Authority said the retail planning system makes it difficult for new retailers to enter the market and for existing retailers to expand.

The report, based on the experience of the seven largest grocery retailers in Ireland from 2001 to 2007, said the planning system influences the type of retailers that trade in Ireland, where they locate, what they offer consumers and the prices that consumers pay.