Outgoing Oireachtas committee advocates new code of practice

Willie Penrose, chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, said we need “a code with teeth”

A statutory code of practice, overseen by an independent arbiter should be introduced in the retail sector, advises the outgoing Oireachtas Committee

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The outgoing Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Innovation has published its report on how to counteract the rising challenges facing the retail sector.  

Nine recommendations were made in total, including the creation of a statutory code of practice for the retail sector which would be monitored by an independent arbiter.  

Recommendations also included a reduction in commercial utility costs, the retention of the current cap on floor space, uniform planning regulations on either side of the border, amendments to EU legislation on food labelling, and an improvement in the collection of retail data.

Committee member Senator Donie Cassidy said he was confident that any potential new government would pay heed to at least 50% of these recommendations.  

Chairman Willie Penrose added “the light-touch approach” of recent years had proved “disastrous” and “a code with teeth” was needed to “protect our companies and our jobs.”

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has also stated it supports the introduction of a statutory code of practice alongside an independent supermarket ombudsman, to “ensure a more equitable share-out of the consumer price for farmers.”

However, one of the issues the committee – which had been investigating the retail sector for three years – failed to fully examine, was the legally complex issue of upward-only rents.   

Penrose acknowledged excessively high rents were “causing serious problems for retailers and causing some of them to close” but claimed in The Irish Times that the committee had not formally discussed the issue because “we did not anticipate that the report would have to come out so quickly”.

Meanwhile the Labour Party has claimed it will abolish upward-only rent reviews should it form part of the next government.
Dunnes also came under criticism for not contributing to the committee’s investigation with Penrose stating the retailer had “refused continuously over the last 10 years” to appear before any Oireachtas committee. 

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