Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for their presentations.

The CCPC informed the committee earlier that this directive is not its business. That was the message. It is outside the commission's remit. It has been working on behalf of the consumer and wants to continue doing that and it sees this directive almost in conflict with that.

I was looking at the back of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" in a bookshop is Sligo the other day. It was written in 1776 and he is the hero of capitalism. Throughout that, he talks about how the free market rules but he also, in every chapter, talks about how the firm hand of government must control it. There was one section of it that said that never did two or more merchants come together for the simplest of conversations but the conversation turned to fixing the market. The government has to have a hand in there to ensure fair play. That is what this is about. The Government has to play its role and the EU is saying that through this directive. The Government has to come in and ensure fair play and a decent price is given to the primary producer. That is what we need to do in all of this.

Contracts are vital, and they were mentioned from a retail perspective. I understand retailers must have contracts, but very often the problem is there is no contract, or the contract is a very loose one that they can get out of. That needs to be tidied up. Standards need to be put in place so contracts cannot be wriggled out of as easily as they have been in the past and cannot be as loose as they have been.

The primary producer must get a fair price. If that is to happen, it is about the market, but it is also about ensuring the common good of society is served. If the common good is going to be served, the thousands of farmers in this country who produce excellent food need to be able to make a living. That is the common good. That is what this needs to be about.

My questions have been answered, by and large, in the witnesses' submissions. We need to support the concept of the establishment of a directorate to pursue this solely on the basis of looking after the interests of the common good.

If it is going to look after the interests of the common good, the retail sector would also be well served. There should not be resistance between the two. There must be a sense of ensuring that we do this in a balanced way. Balance has been mentioned several times but there is no balance at the moment. That is why we are here. If we are going to move forward, we must recognise that. There must be recognition from the retail sector, particularly the large retailers, and the big processors.

The meat industry was mentioned. There are rules and regulations in the beef sector in the context of U-grade meat, O-grade meat and so on. I never know the grade of a piece of meat I buy from a shop. People who work in the facilities state that if there is an order to be filled, it is filled regardless of what grade a farmer has received. That is the reality. Many of the regulations that have been put in place, particularly by the processors, are a mechanism to push down the price to the farmer. That needs to be recognised. That is one of the things that needs to come into play here. Whoever takes on the role or whatever structure is set up must have sharp teeth in order to take charge of this.