Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the representatives of the various organisations for coming to today's meeting and making such interesting presentations. I am a suckler cow farmer in south Kildare. I am not a dairy man. I have great respect for anyone who gets up seven days a week to milk cows. The Glanbia plant in Ballytore in my local area employs 120 people in the dairy section alone. According to the 2011 census, Ballytore village had a population of 685. I do not need to elaborate much more on those figures to demonstrate the impact of dairy processing on our local community. There are plenty of dairy farmers all around.

Much of what we heard in today's presentations is not new to me, but it very concerning nonetheless. We need to get to the nub of how we solve these problems. I think everyone here agrees that there are issues that need to be addressed. Do the producers have any information on how much milk is being imported, particularly from Northern Ireland? I was struck by the suggestion made earlier that liquid milk will not survive a price war if action is not taken. We need to talk about the action that should be taken. A code of practice that would prevent below-cost selling and predatory pricing practices is needed as a key part of our approach.

I would like to pick up on what was said about the processor in the middle. Do the witnesses have a sense that the retailer uses the processor as a buffer so that it does not have to deal directly with the producer? When we questioned the multiples at this committee about the horsemeat scandal and other matters, it struck me that it almost suits them to be at such a distance from the primary producer. They claim that their dealings with processors that provide products like milk and meat gives them a knowledge of the cost base. We need to ensure the multiples are more cognisant of the pressures that are faced by individual processors.

What would the producers say in response to what the multiples said at this forum when they were asked about the possibility of an ombudsman being appointed? An independent arbitrator is now in place in England. The multiples argued that such a system would lead to increased costs, particularly if it was mandatory rather than voluntary. They warned us in that respect. Do the witnesses have any views on that? We need to strike a balance between a system that would be overly restrictive on retailers, and thereby have a detrimental impact on consumer costs and consequently on producers, and a system that would mean the large multiples are free to carry on as they do at present. We have very little control over their actions as things stand. As a result, in recent times we have seen plenty of instances of suppliers being squeezed beyond the cost of production.