Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes, they do have access. That is how they are able to manipulate the market by flooding it when it suits them.

It is widely believed that the beef factories have access to the database and to farm financial data, while farmers are not given access to figures collected by the Department on the numbers of cattle slaughtered each week, or, crucially, on the level of inter-trading among the beef factories. Unless the factory managers are clairvoyant, how do they know when finished cattle are coming on stream? The Minister of State cannot sit there and tell me, in absolute terms, that they have not got access.

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