Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. If needs be, I second his proposal that the Bill be now read a second time. I warmly welcome the Bill, which will provide for the establishment of a body known as an rialálaí agraibhia. The Minister thanked many people in his conclusion, but he left out one very important person. Without becoming overly partisan - I am not being partisan - the Minister deserves great credit and thanks. The Bill would not be here today without him. It is his brainchild. During the previous Government, as lead spokesperson on agriculture for our party, Fianna Fáil, I worked very closely with him in this House.This was his brainchild. He promoted it very strongly and ensured it was in Fianna Fáil's manifesto for the 2020 general election. He then succeeded in getting it included in the programme for Government. Unlike what happens a lot of the time, when he did assume the role of Minister, he did not leave it behind him. So often we see Opposition spokespeople with great ideas but when they do receive and grab the reins of power, they can often forget what they promised and promoted previously but the Minister did not do that and brought it to this Stage today.

Along the way, I was honoured to be involved in the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which carried out very extensive pre-legislative scrutiny on the Bill. I know the Minister met with all the stakeholders in 2021. When the committee carried out pre-legislative scrutiny in 2022, we also met with all the stakeholders and those who will be affected by the new regulator. I warmly welcome the fact that in spite of and contrary to much of the commentary, we made 20 recommendations in our very comprehensive report after our pre-legislative scrutiny. As the Minister rightly said, 18 of those 20 recommendations have been fully or partially included in the Bill. It is not just the Minister and I who are saying this here today for our benefit or to promote the Bill. Anyone who wishes can get the documentation from the Library and Research Service, which carried out an independent analysis of what was included in the Bill from pre-legislative scrutiny, and read it. I am quoting from the independent research of the Library and Research Service when I say that 18 of our 20 recommendations have been partially or fully included, which is to be welcomed.

Much of the Dáil debate on this Bill was on a Wednesday evening when the aforementioned committee sits so I did not get to watch it all but I got to watch some of it. There is some negativity out there from some quarters. I make no bones about saying that the committee did not see much of some of the people who were hardest on the Minister and most negative in their approach to the Bill when it was carrying out pre-legislative scrutiny. This is where they could have greater influence based on the numbers I have given, which show how influential our pre-legislative scrutiny was.

People need to step back and look at what this Bill is meant to achieve. A lot of people with whom I discuss the Bill are negative to an extent. They think it will be a new Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. We already have that so we do not need duplication. The most important role the new independent body can play is to correlate information such as price and trading information to which the Minister will have access.

Another group of people think this new body will be able to fix prices for farmers. As much as I would love it, that is not possible. If the price is bad, it is down to me as a farmer and the person to whom I am selling my product to negotiate the best deal I can. The role of the new body will be to make sure that whatever contract or price arrangement I willingly walked into and agreed will be honoured, which does not always happen. This is vital. The most significant role of this body will be the policing of unfair trading practices along with access to and knowledge of the information this body will be able to gather when it comes to pricing and farmer commercial interaction, arrangements and contracts. While we cannot as administrators influence the price that individuals negotiate, with almost every passing week the Minister is getting requests for supports and subsidies where the price is too low because input costs went up or farmers cannot get the price because of the weather and the product is not as good as it was or the crop failed. When it comes to the Minister or future Ministers deciding on supports, where supports are most needed or how those supports will be most beneficial to the sector through being paid to the right people at the right time for the right reason, the information that will be available from this office will be invaluable.

I welcome the appointment of Niamh Lenehan and look forward to working with her. She and the new body will be answerable to the Oireachtas committees. The idea here is to promote fairness and transparency in the agrifood supply chain. The initiative is the Minister's brainchild. I compliment him on that and on bringing it to fruition here today, although today is not the be-all-and-end-all. When it passes through Seanad Éireann, the Minister can proudly say that it is definitely one that came from its infancy in his own outlook, which must be welcomed. I compliment the Minister for not forgetting his promises when he gained high office and bringing the Bill to this Stage.