Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

At those gates in Bandon and in Rathkeale, I recall being asked several times by farmers why were they not being paid for the fifth quarter. The fifth quarter is every other bit of the carcase, which the farmer does not get paid for, yet the factories are getting paid for that. If this food regulator is to have any real purpose or benefit to farmers, the regulator needs to go after that issue because farmers are being short-changed. They are not paid for all of the animal. They are not paid properly at times even for the part of the animal they are being paid for. They never get paid for the fifth quarter. Factories are raking it in in this regard. They need to be followed up to see about it. We appear not to have had any power to follow this before. I ask the Minister to give the regulator the power to follow these people. They are all doing the same thing and they are acting like a cartel. Someone used to say that if it waggles like a duck and it quacks like a duck, then it must be a duck. There is something going on there with these factories. It seems an eternity ago since we raised this and since the farmers had to go through these protests and do nights and days out in the rain and the cold. We appreciate the struggle they went through at that time. It seems like an eternity since those questions were asked, yet we are still here in the Dáil and we still do not have answers for the people. I am asking the Minister to ensure that whatever power the regulator has, he or she will have the power to follow this up as well.

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