Mr. John Keane:

I think most of the points have been covered. We feel it is important that the Minister and the Department investigate this matter. As mentioned in the opening remarks, there is a disparity between North and South, Ireland and the Continent and Ireland and England, and there was the rate of change that happened in a short number of days, particularly in spring 2022, where at close of sales in different places on two different occasions there was a couple of hundred euro of an increase in the space of three or four working days. It is important to establish the cause and effect and the reality and impact for farmers. The upstream supply chain to farmers lacks transparency and clarity in this regard. The downstream supply chain from farmers after the product leaves the farm gate also has a significant lack of clarity and transparency, yet we know what goes on inside the farm gate down to the full stop, the dotted "i" and crossed "t". The office for fairness and transparency is to be established to examine the downstream and some upstream effect. The farmer in the middle being squeezed by the lack of clarity on both sides really highlights the lack of investment, intention and ambition to try to support that squeezed middle. We support a one-off investigation but there needs to be a more all-encompassing approach to ensure the clarity farmers bring to what goes on inside the farm gate is echoed in all aspects of inputs, both the upstream supply to farmers and the downstream.