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

Another serious problem exists in respect of cattle that have been owned by four or more people. Who is being penalised in this regard? Again, it is the producers. What happens to cattle when they enter the production chain? If they have had four or more owners, are they sold more cheaply? The answer is "No". Those who are the fifth and sixth owners of cattle are being penalised. When they take their animals to the factory, they are penalised because they have had more than four owners. Right along the food chain, there is no difference in the price. In other words, the customer pays exactly the same price for meat regardless of the number of owners that the animal from which it was produced may have had. Is that not fraudulent?

I was contacted earlier by a man who buys large numbers of cattle throughout the country. He informed me that in recent weeks, when he brought animals to the factories, he did not even bother to seek a price. What does that tell the Minister of State? The individual in question has been broken by the way in which the factory owners have manipulated the market for their own selfish ends. They have manipulated it in such a way that they have managed to take everything they can get from producers. That is happening on the current Government's watch. In fact, it has been happening for many years, but no one done anything about it. Action must be taken. The Government must put something in place in order that we might know-----

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