Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 18 December 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Suckler Beef Sector: Discussion with Irish Farmers Association

3:30 pm

Photo of Pat DeeringPat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt there is no silver bullet to the current difficulty.

I reiterate Senator Mulherin's point on unfair trading practices. Will the delegates comment on the legislation being introduced in Europe? How could we make it stronger from our perspective? I do not believe the legislation proposed is strong enough. What can we do at national level to ensure it is strengthened? There was talk about, and the delegates made recommendations on, having a process similar to that across the water, where there is an independent arbitrator in place to deal with difficulties in the sector. There has been a lot of talk here about the processors. The large multiples have a large part to play in the overall equation. That needs to be tackled.

On the point Deputy Cahill made, having farmer against farmer is not a way to go. It is regarded as a solution to everything.

Everyone in the entire agriculture sector has a part to play in helping to solve the difficulty.

There was some talk in the past about the part producer groups might play although not so much in more recent times. Some other sectors or groups have been talking up that proposition in more recent times. I am keen to hear the comments of the IFA deputation on that question as well.

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