Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the four organisations for their very informative presentations. We have a crisis, but it had a long gestation period. We should face up to this and when we try to resolve it, we should do so not only for the short term but also consider the underlying weaknesses that have caused this chaos. The first thing that struck me and on which I concentrated when I became spokesperson on agriculture was the need for the farmer to get a fair price for product, whether dairy or beef. At the beginning it was liquid milk, then vegetables and now beef. In the case of all three, we have seen manipulation and serious concerns expressed about the way the market works.
The committee conducted a thorough examination of the grocery sector which focused on the power of the multiple. We then had several debates on live exports to Britain. I have persistently asked the Minister why one cannot put a truck on a boat in Dublin when one can do it in Larne to travel to Stranraer. I am glad that I can kill one red herring today - the British consumer is not paying a heap more for British beef, compared with Irish beef. The price difference is in the factory, not on the supermarket shelf.
The issues are price differentials and changes. There are different prices for the same type of animal in the three jurisdictions. That is a major concern because if the price is down across Europe and these islands, one can at least say the market is not good, but the difference seems to be becoming more acute.
The second issue is the changing specifications. Two things are happening. If one has in-spec cattle, there are more deductions and it is harder to get a premium price. Many more cattle are being deemed to be out-of-spec and there is a huge clip in price. This seems to lead to an issue about the power of beef processors. Justin McCarthy wrote an editorial in the Irish Farmers Journallast week about retailers being behind this ultimately and indicating that it was not just processors, that it also had a retail arm. This is the issue with which we grappled for over a year - the power of the multiple. We need to examine its power to work the market. The hidden hand of the multiples might be involved in this issue.
Barriers to trade on this island and between Ireland and Britain seem to become more acute all the time. Do we know the exact quantity of imported beef being processed in this country, particularly from Poland? Do we know what happens to that beef, where it goes to from this country and under what label? Is anybody tracking every piece coming in? Last year we could not track horsemeat. Do we know exactly what happens to all of that beef and what impact it has on the market?
There seems to be uncertainty and a lack of clarification about the four movement issue. I tabled a parliamentary question on this issue last week and the reply on what was meant by the four movements was less than satisfactory. Its sudden imposition seems to be causing problems for the way cattle farming is conducted. It affects not only factory-ready cattle but also has a knock-on effect on selling calves. One cannot sell a Holstein-Jersey cross cow. One effectively gives it away because there is nobody to buy it as there is no live trade in calves out of the country and nobody wants them because of what has happened.
The response to date has been totally inadequate. None of us, the Oireachtas, the Minister or even all of the organisations represented here, has got on top of this issue. I have a few suggestions to make. One of the best ways to concentrate the minds of those who might be manipulating the market in some way is to make it absolutely clear that the Government does not care whether it takes two years or ten, that it will pursue this issue and call for major structural changes over whatever length of time it takes to bring them about. If one knows that it is determined and will go through fundamental change, that will concentrate the mind because they are thinking in the long as well as the short term because they have long-term investments.
Since last autumn I have been calling for an Irish inquiry, as well as an EU inquiry, into the operation of the free market. I have issued several press releases on the issue. If we were to put it on the national agenda, if the Minister were to say tomorrow that he would back such an inquiry, at home and abroad, that would begin to concentrate minds.
I was very taken by the phrase used to the effect that if there was anything worse than a State monopoly, it was a private one. We know where there is over-concentration of ownership, whether it be in the media or elsewhere, that regulation clips in.

We must look at the structures, given that so much of the industry is controlled in a small number of hands - in particular the offal market which is totally controlled - whether it is contrary to competition law, and what can be done in that regard. I suggest we all agree, because there seems to be a delay in bringing forward the legislation, to introduce a groceries order on a legislative basis, with an ombudsman. I understand the delay does not have to do with the consumer side but with the merger of the Competition Authority and the consumer authority. I suggest we forget about the merger and get on with the groceries order in the meantime and that when the legal difficulties have been resolved, we can deal with the merger.

We could call for an immediate examination by the Data Protection Commission of access to the animal identification and movement, AIM, system and the computerised maintenance management system, CMMS, the information the factories have and whether it is contrary to data protection legislation. It seems to be totally contrary to data protection legislation that they can find out how many cattle somebody has on a farm. I have no doubt that the Data Protection Commissioner would be interested in the issue if there was any validity to breaches of data protection legislation in that regard.

I seek clarification on the issue of levies raised by the ICSA which has suggested what could be done without levies. Currently, farmers are hugely affected and confidence in farming is affected. Considerable financial pressure is being put on farmers and there are knock-on effects on sales and people investing in the main produce from dairy cows. It is a major national issue. As has been pointed out by the IFA, there are considerable national financial ramifications. Would it be possible for all of the farming organisations to get together with politicians to draw up a common list of actions such as opening up the live trade and breaking down barriers to ensure free trade?

The last straw for me was when people tried to divide the island. We have a Department of agriculture in the North and in the South and I find it difficult to understand why the two Ministers cannot get together. Both come from the Nationalist tradition and say partition of the island is not acceptable in the cattle trade and that we will not accept it. Any artificial manipulation of trade between the North and the South would be contrary to everything for which we have worked politically and economically for 20 years under the Good Friday Agreement. What we should do is break down the barriers and create a common market for Irish goods to put them on world markets, not create artificial differences that make it impossible for a farmer in County Monaghan to sell cattle into County Fermanagh or County Armagh. That is utterly ridiculous and we need to take action on the issue. Luckily for us, we have a colleague of Deputy Michael Colreavy in charge of the Department in the North. I am sure she would be more than willing to meet our Minister and knock down barriers. There is at least a sea between this country and Britain, although I do not agree with the difference in that regard either. I fought against it for months. It is an utter disgrace to have a barrier on the island.