FORMER EUROPEAN commissioner David Byrne has pulled out of the job of drawing up a voluntary code of practice to regulate supermarkets and their suppliers because of a potential conflict of interest.
Mr Byrne has written to Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe to say he will not be taking up the post to which he was appointed last month by Mr O’Keeffe’s predecessor, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan.
A spokesman for Mr O’Keeffe yesterday confirmed he had received correspondence from the former commissioner in which he declined the appointment because of a potential conflict of interest.
The spokesman said the Minister was still committed to the process started by Ms Coughlan and was actively trying to find a replacement for Mr Byrne.
Mr Byrne could not be reached for comment yesterday.
He is a non-executive deputy chairman of DCC group, whose food and beverage arm operates brands such as Kelkin, Robert Roberts, KP and Kylemore.
The appointment of Mr Byrne was Ms Coughlan’s last act before she was moved in a Cabinet reshuffle last month. At the time, she said Mr Byrne would be asked to consider submissions on a supermarket code made in a public consultation last year and to examine how voluntary codes had worked in other countries.
Mr Byrne was to decide whether the code was to be voluntary or statutory, how it was to be funded, and what provisions it would contain.
Retailers are generally opposed to a code of conduct and the appointment of an ombudsman, but suppliers see the proposals as a way of reining in the power of the multiples.
Any proposals for a statutory code would be included in legislation to be drawn up this year for the merger between the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority. The latest development may cause a delay in this.
The Irish Farmers’ Association called on the Minister yesterday to find someone else to draw up the code as quickly as possible. “We were promised a result by early summer and that doesn’t look likely now,” said a spokesman. “However, this issue is too important to leave on the back burner.”
Mr Byrne is a former attorney general and the current chancellor of Dublin City University. As commissioner for health and consumer protection between 1999 and 2004, he was instrumental in tightening food safety laws.