Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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385. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the legal basis for requiring farmers to buy their cattle tags exclusively from one supplier selected by the Department on the basis of a tender organised by it in view of the fact that farmers - because they pay for them - are the legal purchasers of the tags; his views that this is in conformity with EU law, including competition law; the reason, as they are the purchasers, farmers are not free to purchase tags from any supplier as long as the tags comply with the relevant EU and national standards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30341/14]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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387. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if farmers are entitled to purchase cattle tags from suppliers other than the supplier contracted by his Department and use them instead of tags from that supplier, as long as the tags they purchase conform to the relevant departmental and EU regulations; if not, the reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30382/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 385 and 387 together.

The position is that the Request For Tender (RFT) document that was published on 29 May 2012, which covers the current supply contract, stated that, following the evaluation of tenders, it was the intention to approve one supplier. The restriction of the supply of bovine tags to a single supplier is designed to ensure that farmers obtain the best tag from a superior quality and price perspective. The approval of one supplier to provide this service is not in breach of EU or national procurement law. The farming organisations have expressed a preference for a single supplier as, contrary to popular view, a single supplier provides a more competitively priced product with scale in the marketplace for Irish cattle farmers.