Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government included a commitment for a new office of National Food Ombudsman to enforce the Unfair Trading Practices Directive and to have a role in analysing and reporting on price and market data in Ireland. The establishment of the new Office required primary legislation which I progressed through the houses of the Oireachtas.

Because the time required to draft and enact the primary legislation would not have allowed the transposition of the UTP Directive within the deadline of 1st May 2021 set down by the Directive, a two-step approach was taken to establishing the new Office. In April 2021, Statutory Instrument No. 198 of 2021 transposed the UTP Directive directly, as it stood, into Irish law. This allowed me to establish the required UTP Enforcement Authority, as an interim measure, in my Department.

There was a budget allocation to the UTP Enforcement Authority of €1 million in 2021, €4 million in 2022 and €4 million in 2023. The amounts expended and the purpose of the expenditure are laid out in the tables below.

It was expected that the budget funding requested would be required for the new premises needed for the Agri-Food Regulator, once established, as well for staffing, and other ancillary services including IT systems and legal services. However the primary legislation was not finalised until July 2023 and the new Office not established until 13 December 2023. This meant that significant savings in the budget allocations were made in each of the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 as the UTP Enforcement Authority remained in my Department and its costs were met by my Department’s administrative budget.

In regard to costs for premises, it became possible to locate the Agri-Food Regulator in premises already in government usage in the shared Government Offices at Backweston Campus, Celbridge, and which did not need extensive retrofit. This allowed for significant capital cost savings.

The current records for expenditure per year indicate as follows:

2021

2022

2023