Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to pick up on the Minister's point about strong players dictating and abusing terms. I suggest they will be able to use this provision to do that. We know who the strong players are. As we speak, they are employing people who are being paid much more money than any of us are getting to go through this Bill and find ways around it. I predict that the strong players will use the distribution chain for these purposes.

They will use their dealings with the intermediary to abuse the supplier - in other words, the person who makes the effort to grow and supply the food they purchase.

While I agree with the Minister on the need to avoid imposing an administrative burden, providing for this level of protection to the primary producer would not impose a significant burden on companies with a turnover of more than €10 million. The current level of protection for primary producers is not sufficient. To use the Minister's phrase, the dominant providers are using these types of measure to ensure primary producers are not afforded the protection they require.