Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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46. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the Beef Taskforce; the number of times it has met to date; and the reports completed to date by same. [41697/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Beef Taskforce was established to provide the leadership to develop a sustainable pathway for the future of the beef sector. The Taskforce provides a robust implementation structure for commitments entered into in the Beef Sector Agreement of 15th September 2019, with timelines and stakeholder engagement.

There have been six meetings of the Taskforce to date and the next meeting will be held later this month.

As part of the Agreement, three specific consultancy studies, all of which relate broadly to market transparency, were commissioned.

- a  summary of competition law issues as relevant to the sector.

- an independent review of market and customer requirements, specifically in relation to the four in-spec bonus criteria currently in operation;

- an independent examination of the price composition of the total value of the animal, including the fifth quarter, along the supply chain. 

The tender for the studies was awarded to Grant Thornton.  Despite the operational challenges associated with COVID-19,  my understanding is that they are progressing well.  The first two studies will be discussed at the next TaskForce meeting.

I note that work has continued steadily towards fulfilling all the actions in the Beef Stakeholder Agreement, despite the Covid19 crisis which added a further layer of complexity and a significantly challenging working environment. Full details of the actions, progress updates and meeting minutes are available on my Department’s website.

I was pleased to have the opportunity to address the Taskforce at their September meeting. I emphasised that constructive and meaningful engagement across this group is essential to maintaining and developing the sector in a sustainable way which adds value at all stages of the supply chain, but particularly for the primary producer.

I believe the sector can rise to the many challenges facing it and that the Taskforce has an important role to play.  I look forward to seeing continuous, strong engagement from the Taskforce as its work progresses.