Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

The Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, expects to produce legislation on a statutory code early in 2011. This is the beginning of November, so do we expect Mr. Travers to make a report on a voluntary code of practice by the end of the month? This process was started in August 2009 by the then Minister, Deputy Mary Coughlan. Some 15 months later, however, nothing has been achieved. We have no agreement or indicators from the players. A leaked document from Retail Intelligence showed that this is the treasure island for our major international multiple, whose profit margin in this country is greater than anywhere else. We have seen in today's newspapers that the price of beef is higher in Brazil than it is here. Yet the price to our producers is down, while the price for consumers is higher than everywhere else. Something is wrong, therefore, and the sooner we grasp this nettle the better.

See this speech in context