The Small Firms Association (SFA) has called on the major British multiples operating in Ireland to reverse "the growing process" of importing UK products into Irish supermarket and retail outlets.

The association said there was "increasing evidence" to support its long-held belief that Irish manufacturers and suppliers are being "squeezed out" of the market. "In the past four years alone our imports from the UK have increased by 50 per cent," said the SFA director, Mr Brendan Butler.

He called on the Government to back a major campaign to promote import substitution. "The current exchange rate of the Irish punt against sterling, the deutschmark and the US dollar gives us in an ideal opportunity to support indigenous manufacturers."