Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 July 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

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

Mr. Vincent Roddy:

It is a fair point in respect of the €500,000 limit. It will depend on the company. For some companies, €500,000 is not a lot of money. Our view is that it has to hurt and there have to be sanctions in place. Mr. Keane referred to encouragement and enforcement. This definitely has to be enforceable. The hit has to be hard enough to ensure companies do not step outside the requirements. As the Deputy stated, it is also a question for the other organisations. Consideration should be given to it being a percentage of a company's turnover. It may be that the percentage would depend on the seriousness of breach.