Fingleton did not initially favour a probe.

The purpose of competition policy, Fingleton told British MPs at a recent committee hearing, was to protect competition not competitors. But all has changed utterly since, it appears.

After the country's Association of Convenience Stores pushed on to an appeals tribunal with their call for a probe, last week brought a remarkable rethink by the man who was staunchly in favour of the abolition of Ireland's Groceries Order. He said that "restrictions in the planning system, and the possible incentives those restrictions create for retailers to distort competition, may harm consumers and mean that competition is less than it might otherwise be".

No doubt Fingleton can expect a quizzing this week from the Irish delegation heading over to London tomorrow at the behest of the parliamentary Committee for Enterprise & Small Business. The delegation will meet with Fingleton, as well as the British Retail Consortium, as part of an Irish parliamentary probe into competition in the British retail sector.