Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Beef Plan Movement and Meat Industry Ireland for coming in, making presentations and contributing to this important work in respect of the committee's objective of trying to put together a report which will help to provide a sustainable and profitable future for the beef sector. I also acknowledge the strong work the Beef Plan Movement has done in engaging with farmers. It has certainly gained much support in recent months. I have specific questions for that organisation regarding recognition and the thresholds for recognition as a farm body. Where does the Beef Plan Movement stand with that issue? Has it made an application and received any feedback from the Department in respect of getting representation on the various committees that approved beef and other farming organisations sit on?

The core of the Beef Plan Movement's proposal is a need for an increased focus on the role of producer organisations. I refer to farmers operating and working together to try to achieve better outcomes and better margins for the primary producer. We have heard the meat industry make the case that last year it was paying 107% of the EU average. I am interested in the Beef Plan Movement's perspective and its sense of and response to that claim. What markets does the Beef Plan Movement think the meat industry should be targeting to achieve increased prices? I would also like the representatives from the Beef Plan Movement to elaborate further on the 125 km category 1 waste transport rule. What impact is that having on the sector?

Moving to the representatives from Meat Industry Ireland, I want to again focus on the claim that 107% of average European prices was paid across all categories of beef in 2018. What is the equivalent percentage paid by processors in 2019? I understand it is below the EU average. It has been at different times, at least, even if it may not be at the moment. If 107% of the average European price was paid last year but less than 100% now is being paid this year, where is that extra percentage going? Is it the case that because there is an increased supply of beef that the meat industry is using that fact to depress prices and increase its own margins as a result? We need an answer on that issue because it is one of great concern. As the representative from MII will be aware, the strongly held view among the farming community is that when the numbers of cattle go up, we see processors depress prices and increase their margins as a result. It is always the farmers who are squeezed and they do not get the opportunity to increase their margins. They are, more often than not, making a loss. CAP payments to those farmers amount to more than the net income on beef farms.

Regarding the information available to the meat processing sector, at the moment it has complete visibility of the number of cattle in the country, the ages of those cattle and how they are coming through the system. Farmers rightly question why meat processors should have full access to the numbers of cattle on farms. Having that information means that the meat processors know, down to a tee, what is coming through the system. That information can then be factored into calculations and can affect the prices being paid. Why does the sector need to have that level of information? I argue that factories should not have all of that information and should not know what numbers of animals are coming down the line. Turning to the issue of the 125 km category 1 waste transport rule, what is the perspective of the MII on that issue? Is it depressing the capacity for competition in the meat processing sector? Why does that rule have to be there?

Regarding the four-movement rule, the 30-month rule and the 70-day retention rule, there seems to be no valid basis for those rules to apply any more. There may have been a case for them when there was a problem with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, in the past. That might have been part of the rationale for the 30-month rule originally, for example. That is no longer the case. Farmers cannot see why those rules are in place and they feel the rules are there to depress the capacity for competition in the system. I ask the representatives from the MII to address the rationale for those rules. We need to look at removing those rules in order that there can be proper competition and capacity for farmers to have options in how they go about selling their cattle.

I will move on to the issue of proper payment for the quality of beef going through the beef grid. I also refer to paying quality assurance prices for all animals that are quality assured. The processors market meat that is quality assured but do not always pay for it because of the rules and criteria that have to be met. The report we are working on is intended to plot a profitable and sustainable future for the meat sector.

What are Meat Industry Ireland's projections for the sector's development and the future outlook for meat prices and demand? Farmers will not keep producing unless prices increase. I would be interested in getting MII's perspective on how prices will change in the medium term. What is the beef industry's perspective on the comparison between dairy-bred beef and suckler-bred beef? What is the potential for increasing the price for suckler-bred beef?

What percentage of all our beef exports are sold outside of the EU? What cuts of meat are exported to markets outside of the EU? From figures I have seen, more than 90% is exported to other European Union countries. The consumption rates there are static. What is the potential for increasing sales to non-EU markets?

Finally, we all know that there has been an increase in the amount of stock on the market in recent times. The meat sector knows that. Why has the meat sector not been able to work with the country's marketing agencies in advance of that to ensure that additional markets are available? If there are increasing numbers, we should find a market for them in order that farmers do not suffer because of the oversupply of cattle.