Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy knows as well as I do that the factories are a private industry, that we do not control the beef factories and that the Government does not control the price of any commodity, whether it is a foodstuff, a material, oil or gas. The prices are determined on the markets, taking into account supply and demand. The Deputy should not tell me I do not get it while he pretends he does not get it. He knows full well that the Government does not set the price of commodities or control the beef factories. He is being disrespectful and misleading to beef farmers by pretending that somehow that is not the case. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, has established a beef forum on a collaborative basis, involving producers, the factories, representatives of the farmers, his Department and his officials, and it is working through all of these issues.

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