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

-----and nothing is being done about it.

We can see that the representatives from the beef factories who turn up to the round table circus are always vague and evasive in their answers. No one is prepared to speak about the real situation with regard to slaughtered cattle. This talking shop is going nowhere because it is not getting to the bottom of what is going on - manipulation of the market by the beef barons and the suspicion of access to the database. They know when cattle are coming on and can purchase them at their chosen price.

Will the new transparency promised include the figures for the number of cattle slaughtered and the inter-trading between factories? Is there any evidence of that coming from the round table talks? All we hear is that same old excuse, that this is "commercially sensitive" information. Commercially sensitive for whom? It is commercially sensitive in the context of the profits being made by the beef barons at the expense of the farmers and producers. Commercial sensitivity is used by this Government to protect and back up the beef factories as opposed to protecting the rights and entitlements of farmers and producers. The beef factories will not allow this information to be published. The all powerful beef factories will simply not allow publication of this data. Well, the Minister would want to take a stand on behalf of farmers and not allow the factories to call all the shots, which is what they are doing. They are calling all the shots at the expense of farmers all over the country.

We need a beef regulator to oversee how this industry is operating because, above all, it is not fair. It is anything but fair. There should be transparency and equal opportunity for producers, the farmers who produce the cattle. This is not a question of market forces, it is a question of the unfair advantage of the factories who have the figures while the farmers do not.

The traditional trade with the North, where cattle dealers came down to the South to buy cattle, has collapsed too. Labelling issues have been used as a pretext to create barriers to that trade. The Sinn Féin Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in the North, Michelle O’Neill, is happy to go to the EU seeking a derogation on the issue of labelling. She has met representatives of farming groups, including the IFA and has listened to their concerns.

She is concerned about current beef prices and has plans to meet the representatives of processors and retailers in the next couple of weeks in order to discuss the specifications which have recently been implemented. She is also extremely concerned about the current labelling situation, which is having a negative effect on the cross-Border trade of cattle. She has raised this matter with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and the Minister of State on a number of occasions and wants their agreement to seek a derogation from Europe in respect of the current anomaly. We want a single island-wide produce label which will not threaten traceability standards. Such a label can be achieved. If the will is there, we can find a fix for this situation.

See this speech in context