Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I acknowledge the role of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, in terms of the retail forum. That focus on ensuring that consumers are getting a fair deal from a competitive marketplace in the retail sector continues. There will be another retail forum in early autumn and that conversation will continue. The food industry is an industry that I know reasonably well, having been Minister Agriculture, Food and the Marine previously. It is a sector, by the way, that needs to be competitive in terms of productivity and pricing because most of the food that is processed in Ireland actually gets exported and needs to find a consumer outside of Ireland. We are now exporting over €16 billion worth of food and drink. That suggests that this is a sector that needs to be competitive. However, we need to understand in more detail the different margins that are taken along the supply chain, whether that is from primary producer to processor, in terms of large food companies, and then on to retailers. I will happily speak to my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, on this, but I think it is primarily his responsibility to deal with the food processing sector.

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