OFFICIALS from the Department of Enterprise and Employment have spent the past two days in Brussels discussing the proposed Tesco deal with their EU counterparts.
The £630 million sterling deal, which entails the giant retailing group taking over the Quinnsworth/ Superquinn chain in the Republic and the Stewarts chain in the North, is currently before the European Commission. The deal has been referred under the European Mergers Regulations (1989).
It is understood that the officials were examining EU legislation to see whether certain circumstances apply, as defined in the regulations, which might allow the deal to be considered by the Irish authorities. The deal was notified to the EU by Tesco. Fianna Fail's spokeswoman on industry and employment, Ms Mary O'Rourke, said earlier this week that the Government should use EU law to extract promises from Tesco, protecting Quinnsworth's existing suppliers and staff.
She has also written to Competition Commissioner, Mr Karel van Miert expressing her concern.
Tesco executives have already met the Enterprise and Employment Minister Mr Bruton and promised to foster and develop new and emerging Irish suppliers through a series of measures. It has also undertake to honour existing commitments on pay and conditions.
An EU decision is due by May 5th and the company is reluctant to comment before then. However, the deal is expected to go through.
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