Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Comer, my fellow countyman, to the meeting. It is critical the relative position of farmers in the food supply chain, which is very weak, is tackled, otherwise we will have the same conversation again and again. The witnesses spoke about unequal bargaining power with regard to factories and multiple retailers. The most sober part of this is that every time the farmers are squeezed, the ICMSA and similar organisations must come to the State looking for their income to be augmented. The market is an artificial construct and it is not organic. Certain people are in control of it and they have power. This will be an eternal chestnut unless something is done. I welcome the call by the Minister, Deputy Creed, for the Commission to examine it from an EU legislation point of view. This is not just an Irish problem. It is the way farming and agriculture operate Europe. We have high standards and regulations but we also have an issue in the market. We have suggestions of control by factories and dominant positions and on previous occasions, the former Minister questioned this. I am sure others have also. We always fall down with regard to evidence in this regard. If it waddles, quacks and has webbed feet, it is a duck. We need an emphasis on rooting this out, otherwise we will have an eternal conversation with slight variations in the fortunes of farmers but they will always be drawing the short straw.