Results 7,541-7,560 of 24,065 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: A number of unfair trading practices are specified, and the office will have the power and the capacity to investigate and audit them. In terms of wider pricing and value in the supply chain as such, the office can do reports in regard to that. It can assess what is going on in the market and make a report on that. In regard to unfair trading or practices, it will have the capacity to do...

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 office will not have the power to require compensation, but a company can be prosecuted and fines can be imposed on it. There are no specific financial remedies for suppliers in the Bill. What the Bill provides is that the office can issue a compliance notice in the first instance to bring an end to an unfair trading practice. The failure to comply with the compliance notice is an...

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: No. Below-cost selling will not be banned. Various trading practices are being prohibited in which a supplier would engage with somebody who is larger than him and to whom he is selling a product, but it does not address price.

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 Mr. Collins to give a brief update. He is managing the UTPEA and knows how it is currently operating.

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 have not yet made a final determination on that, but our estimation is there could potentially be up to 15 or 20 people.

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, we are looking at a wide range of expertise. Perhaps Mr. Collins would comment on the type of competencies that will be required. A range of specialist competencies will be required to staff the agency and enable it to do its work. Mr. Collins might comment further on the type of competencies that will be required.

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 come in and give a further update. We engaged with the original Groceries Code Adjudicator, Christine Tacon, who set up the office and pioneered it. We took some advice from her on the approach we have taken in the Bill. I will ask Ms Robinson to add to what I have said.

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: Something that is really important in the legislation is that it gives the capacity to amend and adapt the unfair trading practices that are listed as we go along. It is essential that we take feedback and monitor what is happening in the marketplace. We must work to ensure there is fairness and no unfair practices. Where we identify practices that need to be addressed or included, we will...

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 key point is the effectiveness of the office and the work it does, not necessarily its title. I have heard a lot of floating of the regulator idea, including a meat regulator. However, when one probes further, there is very little detail as to what is meant by that and the substance of what is being suggested. The key point is that we have an office that brings transparency 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)

Charlie McConalogue: First, there was evidence and case law assessed around the introduction of minimum unit pricing for alcohol, for example, that indicated and gave a strong basis that if we were introducing minimum pricing, it needed be for health reasons as opposed to other reasons, and that if we were doing it for other reasons, it would constitute market interference. Minimum unit pricing would seem...

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: A key role will be to examine and shine a light on what is happening in the supply chain. The way to do so is to assess where the market is at and trace that back. Also, the body will monitor changes over time, analyse the dynamic behind them, assess whether the changes are related and shine a light on the situation. That is going to be a key function of this office. Also, the office will...

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 are world markets for a lot of products such as grain, milk, etc. and the prices tend to equalise. For example, the price of milk around the world is similar. Therefore, one does not expect too much variation in what happens. The key thing, particularly concerning anti-competitiveness or cartel-like behaviour, is people coming together to keep prices lower than what they should be.

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 ask Mr. Kinsella to comment on the role played by competition law, etc. I do think that having an independent office generates credibility. It keeps a close watch on the market, shines a light on what happens in the market and monitors all of that. Such work can be very helpful in identifying what is happening in the market and the dynamics. One can move from paying above 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: Therefore, having a separate office that can and does price reporting, and can examine a matter, shine a light on it and speak with authority about what is happening will be a good thing.

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 new office can make reports and recommendations to the CCPC and my Department. This is about having an office that can trace and assess what happens in the market, assess movements in the international market, into which we sell and that determines our price, and then being able to call out and put pressure in terms of what happens there. Obviously cartel-like behaviour is a criminal...

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 have in terms of the unfair trading practices that are listed.

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.

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 also broader capacity. There is a legal requirement to collate that information but there is broader capacity for it to commission reports outside of that and seek further information. One of the key capacities here is going to be the proactive capacity to assess what is going on in the market. One of the legal requirements as a starting point is to be an authoritative collector...

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 next item, Head 9(1)(d), requires it to publish regular analysis and reports on price and market information or contingency issues in regard to the agricultural and food supply chain. The next point provides for the powers and functions to conduct and commission research studies and surveys.

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 makes it a legal requirement to do that very point but it has much broader capacity than that.