Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the representatives of all the groups for their presentations. The vast majority of us in the room are agreed that something has to be done and done quickly. Do the witnesses feel the directive will go far enough to solving the problems of the primary producer? I will address a question to Ms Alison Graham, the ICOS representative. On the dairy side, farmers control the co-operatives.

There is civil war when the battle starts for market share in the liquid milk trade. The person who supplies the milk is the only one who pays for that. We can blame the retailer and say he or she is the big bad man or woman in the room but co-operatives, which farmers own, cut each other's throats to get market share. I cannot see this directive solving that problem.

Meat factories are not farmer controlled anymore. Farmers had a bad experience in the meat business. The same thing happens in that industry at home or in markets in other countries. Irish factories are competing against each other and it is all about market share.

Mr. McCormack made a point about promotional gimmicks and they are a way in which retailers have, in the past, managed to get serious concessions from processors. That needs to be controlled and outlawed, whether it is 25% free, or buy two packs and get another free. The cost of carrying that cannot be continued.

I asked a question to the first group of witnesses today about the percentage the consumer is spending on food today, compared to ten, 15 or 20 years ago. Mr. Burke made a strong point from the retailers' side of the equation. The reality is the primary producer is getting squeezed again and again. It is not tenable. There are things on the producer's side that have to be got right as well and this unending competition for market share looks grand when one wins a contract, but it comes at a serious cost. The primary producer is the one who is paying for it.

Are Mr. McCormack and Mr. Healy confident this directive will do what we, at this side of the table, want it to do, namely, ensure a fair price for the primary producer? Is it strong enough? What else would they like to see to further strengthen it?