Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. The concern that I have heard expressed often in farming and trade circles - perhaps it is insinuation rather than fact - is that the number of companies involved in rendering is quite small and that there may be some links between them. Again, I am not sure if that is true but it is definitely a concern within the trade. It has been argued to me that because of this, such companies are able to tell the factories to drop their prices or they will not take offal and dispose of it. I asked for the list of companies involved so that the information is out in the open and if there is a connection between the companies, that can be proven. The concern I raise relates to competition and for that reason, it is important to put the company names on the record so that people can be confident that they are not connected.

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