Ms Isolde Goggin:

Thank you, Chairman. A transparent market is one where prices are public, as they are in this particular market. The prices are published on the RTÉ website and the IFA website and are broadcast on the radio. Where there is that type of transparency, prices tend not to diverge too much among suppliers. I used the analogy the last day of a person looking to buy apples on Moore Street. There will not be a lot of price difference between the trader at the top of the street and the trader at the bottom, for the simple reason that everybody knows what everybody else is charging. If one tries to charge more for apples, customers will choose the next seller. If one starts charging less, one will soon be looking around and wondering why one is making less money than one could be. Where everybody knows what everybody else is charging, prices tend to converge. I am not 100% convinced, therefore, that more competition in everything will be a solution to the issues that undoubtedly exist in the industry. Moreover, given that it is an industry where 90% of output is exported, would it even be possible to have transparency criteria or rules in operation? It comes back to our concerns regarding the impact for Irish consumers if the rules apply differently to the beef market in Ireland from how they apply to beef markets elsewhere. Will the Irish consumer end up paying the penalty in the end?