Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the inaugural meeting of the beef task force, which was scheduled for 14 October, was prevented from proceeding. Since then, the independent chair of the task force and officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have been continuing to engage proactively with members of the task force with a view to making progress with the implementation of the provisions of the agreement. The Department and its agencies are continuing to make progress with the commitments they signed up to under the agreement. The full text of the agreement between beef sector stakeholders, along with an update on the progress made on the action points to date, is available on my Department's website. An immediate increase in a range of bonuses was announced as part of the 15 September agreement. It has been confirmed to my Department that this bonus system is now in place. The initiatives in the agreement aimed at improving information along the supply chain include the commissioning of an independent review of market and customer requirements, an independent examination of the price composition of the total value of the animal along the supply chain and a summary of competition law issues relevant to the Irish beef sector. The Department has issued the request for tender for these reports, with a deadline for receipt of tender responses of 12 noon on Thursday, 5 December. This will enable the award of the tender before the end of 2019.

With regard to market transparency initiatives, the Department has published an expert report on the mechanical carcass classification review, introduced an appeals system for manual grading and initiated a consultation process on the transposition of the unfair trading practices directive, with a deadline for submission of 13 December. Bord Bia has developed a beef market price index model based on three components: a cattle price index; a beef market price index, including retail and wholesale; and an offal price indicator. This is now available on the Bord Bia website. Teagasc is significantly advanced in the first stage of the scientific review of the quality payment system grid. The Department is engaging proactively with several potential beef producer organisations that have the potential to strengthen the bargaining power of beef farmers in the supply chain. Two beef producer organisations have been fully recognised by the Department in recent months. I established the beef market task force to provide the leadership to develop a sustainable pathway for the future of the beef sector in terms of economic, environmental and social sustainability. As I have said previously, it is in the interests of everyone involved in the beef sector that the work of the task force goes ahead. I hope all parties will agree to come together around the table at the earliest possible date to make progress with this important work.

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