Tesco ‘forced’ to buy abroad, Greencore boss argues

TESCO was “just doing what it was told” when it decided to source certain products from Britain instead of Ireland as the head of one of Ireland’s biggest companies accuses the Government of favouring discount retailers.

By allowing the likes of Aldi and Lidl to operate in Ireland, both of which source their products from abroad, Greencore chief executive Patrick Coveney said that Tesco was “forced” to behave in the way it did when it switched to foreign suppliers from Irish ones.

Mr Coveney said Tesco had to drive down prices and to do this it had to source products in England, where they were cheaper than in Ireland.