Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I respectfully suggest that this is not necessarily a short-term blip. This is potentially a structural change in the market. Nobody, up to the EU Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner herself, can foresee what will happen in the market in the future. Will the Government consider other means of ensuring that primary producers of all hues are guaranteed some kind of fair market price for their produce in the retail multiple sector? I refer to the introduction of fair trade legislation, for example, or the appointment of a retail regulator. Such measures should be introduced as part of a package that includes the market mechanisms being implemented by the Commission.

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