Results 5,521-5,540 of 10,862 for speaker:Matt Carthy

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)

Matt Carthy: I have a question on head 7, the establishment of the office for fairness and transparency in the agrifood supply chain, and the process that led to this proposal. The programme for Government provided for the establishment of a food ombudsman. When the matter went out for public consultation, there was reference to a food ombudsman and a food regulator. From where did the title for the...

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)

Matt Carthy: I have a question that follows on from our previous discussion on the name, which I still do not fully understand. I mean that rather than having an ombudsman or a regulator it appears that we have neither. Heads 8 and 9 deal with the functions of the new office. One of the reasons, which has been mentioned at every farmers' meeting over the past decade which any of us has attended,...

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)

Matt Carthy: Let us say a farmer or an individual reports to the new office for fairness and transparency, and shows that on a given day 15 separate factories offered prices for beef that were within 1% of each other. What would the office do with that information? How would it identify whether the activity is price fixing on a grand scale or, as I have called it, cartel-like behaviour? What impact and...

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)

Matt Carthy: Yes.

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)

Matt Carthy: That is why I have asked about the new body.

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)

Matt Carthy: What will the office examine?

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)

Matt Carthy: The Minister has mentioned world markets and of course they dictate prices. Understandably, the price of timber has fluctuated greatly in the past year and that situation is reflected in the price we will pay in any hardware shortage. Timber is dearer now than it was this time last year. If every timber or hardware store sold the same piece of timber at a price within 1% of the other, and...

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)

Matt Carthy: I shall move on because we are going around in circles when discussing this point. Everybody says, "if there is evidence of price fixing". I want to know whose job it is to find that evidence because the CCPC has told individual farmers that it is their job to provide the CCPC with evidence before the CCPC will even go and ask the meat processors for their opinion on the matter, never mind...

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)

Matt Carthy: I specifically mean the ten practices classified as black. , Deputy Charlie McConalogue:Yes, specifically relating to unfair trading practices.

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)

Matt Carthy: The current enforcement authority requests annual implementation reports from some of the large buyers of agricultural and food products, which are asked to describe the measures that are being taken to ensure compliance. Will the new body request the reports?

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)

Matt Carthy: Head 9(1)(c) says, "collect, analyse and report on publicly available price and market data in the agricultural and food supply chain". I note from a number of submissions that there is a concern about the wording "publicly available" because it might hinder the performance of the function. I mean if it is only "publicly available" information then the provision could create issues...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (7 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: The Department has said the national broadband plan is 12 months behind schedule. Eight and a half of those months have been attributed to Covid, which is strange when one considers that works were permissible throughout the Covid period. The correspondence does not indicate whether a sanction has been applied to date regarding the other three and a half months' delay, which the Department...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (7 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: That is what I would infer also. We need to have it clarified. Given the figures it is clear these guys are way off the targets at this point.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (7 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: That is the information the Department provided us with at the previous hearing.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (7 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Can we look at R1335?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (7 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: It is in relation to the update on the implementation of our recommendations regarding the children's hospital.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (7 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: It is R1335. I thought that I had it flagged.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (7 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: I can hold off until next week, if that is what is easiest. Can we put that on the agenda for next week?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (7 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: It is agreed.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (7 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: First, I thank the correspondent for again bringing these important matters to the attention of the committee. There is a role for this committee, insofar as commitments have been given that the Comptroller and Auditor General would have oversight of what I understand to be more than €2.2 billion in expenditure that the State holds for wards of this nature. Could the Comptroller...