Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Tacon and Ms Williams and thank them for their presentation. Ms Tacon's main role is to protect the end customer or shopper and she spoke about a proposal to extend her role. We are just coming out of a situation where beef farmers were looking for protection. It is an ongoing problem in other European countries as well, where farmers feel the price they get for their produce is only a fraction of the end price. There is a situation also where some of the large multiples are selling vegetables below-cost. That is creating a problem at the farmgate in terms of the viability of their businesses. Should there be a separate set of regulations and a separate office to look after the primary producer, or should it be a continuous chain right through from the field to the counter in the shop? Is that the most efficient way of dealing with this?

There is a dispute here in respect of the price the primary producer of beef gets from the processors. The processors will claim that the price they get from the retailer is below what they should be getting. It is very much an undisclosed figure and it is very hard to get a figure. When the customer goes into the butcher shop, to the vegetable counter or whatever, he or she does not see that much difference in prices. Sometimes the big multiples will offer a discount to try to squeeze out somebody else or to put pressure on their suppliers.

There is a connection between the different layers. Do we need an adjudicator or a regulator to operate across the full chain?