Results 7,481-7,500 of 23,975 for speaker:Charlie McConalogue

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: What head are we on?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: This proposed legislation makes it a legal requirement for the chair or the CEO to attend the committee if they are requested to do so at any stage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: We could amend the text to specifically refer to this committee. The current wording makes it a specific legal requirement for the CEO, if asked, to appear before any Oireachtas committee, including this one. The person concerned cannot baulk at attending. The law mandates that he or she must turn up and attend such meetings. Therefore, the legal provision is there. We could specify one...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: We can consider that. We will have to work out a legal text as well to change any names.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: There will be no levy on farmers. The proposed legislation has the capacity to enable the Minister in future, by regulation, should he or she decide, to apply a levy to processors and to those for whom the UTP aspects would apply, but not on the farmers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: There is an allocation in this year’s budget, and there will be in the years to come, for the running of the office. I do not have any plan to introduce a levy now, but the proposed Bill does allow for that to be the case in future if running costs required it to be done. My preference, however, is that we would run this agency out of Departmental allocations and funding. Having...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Penalties are laid out in the unfair trading practices directive. There are compliance notices and fines. Matters can also be brought forward to prosecutions and fines where the rules around unfair practices are being breached. The office will have the capacity to do that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: If that was the case, we would be getting involved in determining and setting the price for the market. That is not something that is legally possible. We can track what is happening regarding various different prices, the markets we sell into and the changing market dynamics over time. For example, 95% of our beef is sold into the European market. There can be variances from the European...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: In order to have a healthy supply chain, it will be important that the office assesses the issues which are important to those in the supply chain. If there are issues which are creating distrust or seem to involve a lack of clarity and transparency, the office should asses that. It will also have the capacity to develop codes of practices and engage with and make reports at all levels of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: There is not specifically any measure in the Bill. I will ask my officials if there is anything to add. If it was found that the law was broken in some way, it would be open to the person who suffered the grievance to seek compensation, but the office itself does not determine compensation. It applies the law and oversees it and it can bring prosecutions in regard to it. In addition, it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I will ask Ms Robinson to make a further comment on it. The unfair trading practices that are included have been given a lot of thought and consideration at European level and apply across the European Union. It has been well examined and thought out. The legislation is providing for capacity within the primary legislation to amend those and for the Minister to amend them. I certainly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Cartel-like behaviour comes under competition law and I ask Mr. Kinsella to comment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The legislation will provide for adding more board members. The approach we are taking is that we feel we want to keep the board efficient. Its ultimate role here is to provide governance and oversight of the work. There will be an executive reporting to it. We felt a board of five plus the chairperson would be sufficient to do that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: It is not in the Bill. I would be open to considering that as for many chairs, they would appear before a committee of the Oireachtas as part of the process. We do not have that provision at the moment. I will certainly reflect on that point and see if we would include it as part of the process.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: How are we pair-wise? Deputy Carthy and I will pair with one another. The Chairman has got me in trouble now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: I will report you to the Whip then, so, Chairman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: The point is that the proposed Bill provides the capacity to enact a levy, but it is not a requirement or an immediate plan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Standard practice for many bodies would be to lay out a report every three years. It is a reasonable timeframe. It is appropriate-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: It will give progress reports, certainly, but it makes sense that you do a certain level of medium-term planning too and that there be consistency in that regard. I would imagine that if it was every year, the reports would be quite similar each year, whereas if you are doing it every three years, there is a bit more onus on you to review it a bit more strategically and plot it out on a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (29 Jun 2022)

Charlie McConalogue: Yes. It will be reportable to the Minister, etc.