Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Members for scheduling this today. I am pleased to present the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022 to the Seanad for Second Stage. The Bill was initiated in the Dáil in December 2022 and passed all Stages on 24 May. The Bill implements the programme for Government commitment to ensure fairness, equity and transparency in the food chain by establishing a new authority to enforce the unfair trading practices directive, with a specific role in analysing and reporting on price and market data.

This is an historic Bill.For the first time in the history of the State, we will establish, on a statutory basis, an independent office that will promote fairness and transparency in the agricultural and food supply chain and must have regard to the specific circumstances and needs of the agricultural and food sector. As the Members will know, farming is our oldest and largest indigenous sector. It accounts for almost 7% of gross national income and more than 9% of exports in value terms. It employs more than 170,000 people throughout the country, representing more than 7% of total employment. Total exports of agrifood products last year were estimated by my Department at €18.7 billion.

Since the commencement of the legislative process and the resulting debates, I have welcomed the way in which the discussion on the Bill has been constructive. Through the collective effort of the legislative process, we are now at the point where the Bill is in its final Stages. Deputies and Senators who are members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine played an important part in the legislative process through their pre-legislative scrutiny report. I accepted in part or in full 18 of the 20 recommendations put forward in that committee and I thank Senators here for their work on that report. Senator Daly, in particular, worked very hard on it, as did Senator Boyhan, as members of the committee. I have also accepted amendments to the Bill on Committee and Report Stages, where I believed their inclusion was warranted or feasible and improved the outcome.

Part 1, sections 1 to 6, sets out the preliminary and general provisions, including definitions of terms used in the Bill-----