Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the moment, we do not have an independent office with credibility that assesses, reports and plays an active role in the context of having oversight over and ensuring transparency in respect of the food chain.

If we think back to the beef protests of 2019, so much of that was about a lack of trust and transparency. In order to address that, the beef task force was set up. A number of reports were commissioned arising from that in order to tease out the issues at play because no one was in a position to assess the situation and report with credibility on what was happening. We need an office which stands aside from the Department, processors and primary producers and has independence and credibility and specific functions in order to be able to assess what is happening.