Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister does not recognise the elephant in the room. I know he cannot directly interfere but even though I was part of a previous Government, I know that successive Governments failed spectacularly to deal with the cartels in the beef industry and this Government is no different. The Minister talks about the Competition Authority and said that it wrote to him twice. It did because it operates to save the consumer and rightly so. It is not taking on the cartels. It has failed spectacularly to do so in the concrete and supermarket industries. The supermarket and beef industries singly or jointly have farmers in a bind. It is not that consumers are getting cheap cuts of beef and other products. We saw the charade that went on last year and that is still ongoing with vegetables in the big supermarkets, some of which were mentioned by the Minister this morning.

The Minister does not see the problem so he cannot solve it. It is like the Cork hurling team. It was playing well and getting points from all angles but when it came to the big games, it fell off the pitch. That is no criticism of Cork but it is a criticism of the Minister and his Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes. I do not know where the Minister of State is. The Minister and the Minister of State are not cutting the mustard. The beef industry cartels are doing what they want and are laughing at the farmers. The farmers have not been at the gates of the factories for 15 years. Based on what the Minister said, one would think they were there every year. They are not and have not been. They are very patient. They have been driven to this and something must happen, not nice cosy talks around a big table when the Minister will not deal with the problem.

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