Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This goes to the heart of the Minister's position on all these things. To take him at his word, his remarks would suggest an appropriate mechanism to deal with anti-competitive practices is already in place. That is not the experience that was conveyed to us by every farm organisation and farmer we met. Deputy Kerrane is 100% right in respect of the entire debate around the beef protests and the wider and larger antagonisms within the agriculture community, particularly in terms of how farmers are treated by what they consider to be cartel-like operations. Those issues are not being dealt with by the CCPC. That is the overwhelming evidence the agriculture committee received. Unless the Minister is able to outline how he will ensure those anti-competitive practices are being addressed, his answer is, "Tough luck; just continue to face them."

As regards below-cost selling, for the umpteenth time, Sinn Féin wants a ban on below-cost selling across the EU. We believe that would be the most effective mechanism to deliver. Our amendment that the Minister rejected simply called on the regulator to be able to identify the cost of production in order that there would, at least, be transparency in that regard. Let us take the Minister's words at face value, however. He stated that a ban on below-cost selling would mean that only consumers in this State would pay more for Irish beef, for example, and that consumers everywhere else would be getting it cheaper.

This is to say that 90% of Irish beef would be sold below the cost of production. It is an implicit recognition on the part of the Minister that Irish farmers go through periods where they are being paid less for the product they are producing than it costs to produce it. This is the greatest argument in favour of the approach we have taken.

The Minister cited the groceries order, which was previously in place. It was removed by a Fianna Fáil Government, not at the behest of the consumers or farmers, but at the behest of Eddie Hobbs and the big corporate supermarket chains, which Deputy Healy-Rae referred to, so they could increase their operations at the expense of many rural communities, as we know.

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