Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is funny that others in the European Union are not half as sanguine as the Minister about the dominance in the market of a small number of retailers and processors. Every time I have gone over there, they have shared my great concern that there is what we call the hourglass effect. In other words, there is dominance in the centre and basically beef farmers are price takers not price makers.

Other than what is turning out to be a rather toothless beef forum, what steps is the Minister going to take here? There is a grocery price adjudicator in England, for example. Moreover, what is the Minister going to do at EU level, where there is total willingness to try to deal with this matter? What steps will the Minister take to address a fundamental undermining of the free market?

Furthermore, is the Minister concerned, beidir, about the move by ABP Foods to take over 50% of Slaney Foods? That would further concentrate ownership of beef processing in a small number of hands?

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