Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The key objective here is to have an independent office that is statutory and has the credibility and independence to oversee what is going on in the marketplace and influence it in a way that ensures it is as fair as possible. The ultimate objective is to ensure fairness and fair play for primary producers, farm families and smaller and more vulnerable suppliers in the food supply chain. That is the objective. The office will oversee the unfair trading practices directive but a key role will also be assessing what is happening in the marketplace, shining a light on it and influencing it in a such way that we ensure respect throughout the food supply chain for all actors, but particularly for those who are most vulnerable, namely, the primary producer, the farm family, fishers and smaller producers. That is the objective here. As I said, the plan is to have the office up and running and operational by the end of this year. We are now proceeding with legislation to bring that through as quickly as we can.

See this speech in context