Competition laws may destroy small towns, warn TDs

SMALL towns risk being destroyed by competition laws if butchers, bakeries and small shops are replaced by big supermarkets chains.

The Competition Authority was told by politicians that social and environmental responsibility and community cohesion need to be taken into account when promoting choice in the grocery sector.

The authority yesterday met TDs at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment as part of a process to identify why Irish consumers are paying more than their European counterparts for food products.

Chairman of the Competition Authority, William Prasifka, said planning laws in Ireland discourage larger supermarket chains from establishing a network of stores here.

These planning barriers include restriction on store size, as well as an onus on retailers seeking planning to make the case that they will not take away business from the existing outlets.

Mr Prasifka quoted a survey in Checkout magazine, which found 120,000 Irish households had shopped in either Asda or Sainsbury’s in the North in a three-month period last year.

“For them to come in down here, it’s not a question of opening up one shop here or one shop there. They would have to have the confidence that they could duplicate the business model that they have elsewhere. To that extent, our retail planning system does create a formidable obstacle in doing that,” he said, noting that Tesco took over an existing chain of stores here.

Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary said between 1997 and 2002 in Britain, 50 specialist stores including “butchers, bakers and candlestick makers” closed every week.

“I don’t want to see a situation arising where Ireland ends up like England where you have to travel miles to get to any store,” he said.

Committee chairman Willie Penrose, Labour, said: “We have to be careful of concentrating solely on some narrow theory of competition for its own sake that could lead to the demise of small town centres and rural communities.

“Some areas of the UK have already developed into ghost towns as town centre shops and service outlets have closed because of competition from out of town superstores, much to the detriment of those communities and adding to social and environmental problems.”

Green TD Mary White said: “Why should we be forcing people into their cars to drive to the edge of towns and cities in order to get choice and variety. We should be able to keep choice and variety within towns. We have to protect the social dimension of our rural towns and villages.”