Quinn tells Paris to listen to people

Senator Feargal Quinn brought his own brand of supermarket populism to Paris yesterday, talking to the Franco-Irish Chamber of Commerce about "customer power". The way out of recession, Mr Quinn said, "is for governments and the economists to listen to the people". His favourite Irish proverb was, "listen to the sound of the river if you're going to catch a fish".

After he entered the Seanad nine years ago, one of his first tasks was helping to create Bord Bia, the Irish food board. "In the Seanad, I look out for the customers in every bill or topic that comes up," he boasted.

As a guest lecturer at the department of marketing at UCG in Galway a few days ago, Mr Quinn participated in a television link-up with universities in Marseilles, Montana, Virginia and Oregon.

"They were all talking about trends in food," he explained. He was struck by the contrast between European and US attitudes. "In the US, there's a clear belief that we've set up a 'Fortress Europe' against hormones in beef, genetically-modified food and irradiated food. They believe we've done this to protect European farmers."

Mr Quinn also participated in recent talks with the Irish Farmers' Association, which is demanding £200 million (€254 million) more in ewe premiums from the EU. "I told them, 'I was in the shop today and a customer looked at lamb chops and said it was the highest price it had ever been' - and the farmers say, 'Could we have another £200 million'."

The real reason for Mr Quinn's journey to Paris was a meeting of the board of directors of the CIES, the global food business forum which unites the world's 500 leading retailers and suppliers. Mr Quinn is a former chairman of CIES. Its current president and chief executive is Irishman Richard Fedigan, the first non-Frenchman to hold the position since the group was founded in 1953.

Messrs Quinn and Fedigan were to dine last night at the Hotel Meurice with the owners of Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Ahold. But fraternising with the great grocers of the world can be humbling.

Mr Quinn recalled a visit to Ireland by the chief executive of the Japanese group, Ito Yokada. "I told him that we started in 1960 with one store in Dundalk," said the senator, who now owns 18 supermarkets and nine shopping centres in Ireland. Ito San said he too started with one shop. After some discussion with the interpreter, he added that he now owned 19,000 7-11 outlets.