Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The base price for a premium product is far below the cost of production and there should be a statutory investigation into what is going on in the beef industry. As it is currently structured, farming is not sustainable. Once the animal passes through the factory gate, the only person not making a profit is the farmer because the processor and the retailer make a profit. There is a lack of transparency in what happens in pricing and the Minister should be very curious as to why that happens beyond what has been agreed in meetings a number of weeks ago.

The Minister mentioned the "fifth quarter" and if that alone were paid, it would go a substantial way to meeting farmer demands. Many of the criteria used to decide price bear no relationship to the expectations of the retailer or the customer. The processor uses spurious criteria to drive down price so there should be a statutory independent investigation into the meat industry.

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