Groceries Order debate heats up as figures disputed

A CROSS-PARTY parliamentary committee is lining up for a showdown with the Competition Authority over figures the authority used to support its call for scrapping the ban on below-cost selling.

The Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, in a report published last month, came out in favour of retaining the Groceries Order, which bans below-cost selling.

At fresh hearings beginning today, the 15-strong committee is expected to challenge how the Competition Authority (CA) interpreted Central Statistics Office (CSO) data.