Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for confirming that the online display will be updated monthly. It will be of great benefit to farmers. I will use the limited time available to me to address this idea of a protected geographical indication, PGI. It is all well and good but all of the schemes that Bord Bia has promoted have worked not to the benefit of producers but solely to the benefit of processors. They are all being used to hammer prices. This nationwide PGI, while a good idea in theory, will be just one more thing that farmers will be penalised by processors for not adhering to. Further, it will make it harder for individual farmers who wish to register a PGI, because there will be one PGI register for the whole country which will be in the control of processors rather than producers. The whole PGI mechanism, be it in Ireland, Italy or any other country in Europe, is about a product. It gives control to producers. I am not surprised that it is happening this way in Ireland because it is the way that the Department and Bord Bia work. They give power to processors rather than producers. I ask the Minister to bear that in mind when developing a PGI, so he does not just give more power to beef cartels.

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