Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 6 July 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Discussion

Mr. Brian McHugh:

Part of our submission is that the confidentiality sections could be looked at and strengthened, because complaints are a key source of information. In this industry, with regard to the supply chain, ensuring that there is confidential information is very important. We have proposed and referenced the approach in the UK, which is a stronger approach in terms of confidentiality. The adjudicator, as it is in the UK, may not make an unauthorised disclosure of information that it thinks might cause someone to think that a particular person has complained about a large retailer. Given our experience of the industry, about which I am happy to let Mr. Murphy talk, we think this is a very important area that could do with some strengthening.