Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will begin by apologising for Deputy Martin Ferris. He was supposed to attend the protest today, as well as the committee meeting, but he cannot be here. He rang me to ask if I would deputise for him. This is an issue of deep concern to him.

I thank the four organisations for making their presentations. This is an issue of which I am aware from talking to farmers and farming groups locally in the north west, but nonetheless the presentations were disturbing. What we are looking at is a fundamentally flawed system. I probably have more questions for the meat industry than the representative groups because I am aware of the concerns of farmers locally. The industry has incredible power. It would be akin to me being a producer of goods from which I would make a profit from their sale but where someone else had to grow the crop for me. I could tell them what I needed – X, Y and Z - the quantity of product required and the price I would pay. Then when the people producing the crop on my behalf had grown it and did not have an option to go elsewhere with it, I could say I did not really need X, Y and Z but A, B and C and that I would take X, Y and Z off their hands and would not pay for it. Is that not a lovely position to be in?

I should have conveyed my best wishes to Mr. Eddie Downey and Mr. Patrick Kent on taking up their very important jobs. I am sure Deputy Martin Ferris would wish me to extend my best wishes to them.

What is wrong is that we have a deeply flawed system. It smacks of the same phenomenon that we saw with the multinational supermarkets in that they go to growers and agree a price for vegetables, meat, milk or other product. They have a captive audience which cannot go elsewhere and can pay what they want. That is wrong. I cannot understand why it is tolerated, as it damages the interests of farmers. We have heard compelling evidence that this is the case. It damages consumer and Ireland’s interests. How can we have any confidence that the targets set in Food Harvest 2020 will be achieved when there is uncertainty permeating the entire market? What we have is a monopoly and there appears to be evidence of anti-competitive practices. One could ask whether the fact that one has four factories means that one has competition by default. No, it does not. Is there a role for the Competition Authority or has it been asked to become involved? Is there a role for a monopolies commission and has the issue been considered?

I agree with Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív on the impact of the introduction of impediments to the export of cattle to Britain and, in particular, Northern Ireland. We should be able to sort out that issue. All it requires is for the two Ministers to talk. We should not need weeks and months to prepare a report. It is something we should be able to sort out now. I do not have questions because the delegates have painted a very bleak picture of what is happening in the country. We need to sort out the matter very quickly.