Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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145. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine given the significant disparity between the forward malting barley price offered by a company (details supplied) of €240/t and the €300/t sought by growers, and considering the fears raised by an organisation (details supplied) regarding transparency in the pricing mechanism, if he will direct the Office of the Agri-Food Regulator to investigate whether fair pricing and transparency exist within the malting barley supply chain, from farm to final product; the measures his Department will take to ensure that malting barley growers receive a sustainable return on their produce; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13827/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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To be clear at the outset as Minister for Agriculture I do not have a role in setting or controlling prices for any commodity. My Department does, as part of its role in supporting the sector, monitor general developments and trends in prices received and costs borne by Irish farmers.

The price paid for malting barley is a matter between buyers and sellers and a function of supply and demand. I am aware that malting barley prices have come under pressure in recent weeks across Europe, driven by concerns on future export demand for EU alcohol beverages abroad and that growers are concerned about this situation.

An Rialálaí Agraibhia, an independent statutory body under the aegis of my Department does not have a function in setting or regulating price. It does have an important role however, in addition to its unfair trading practice enforcement function, to analyse and publish information about price and market data relating to the agricultural and food supply chain. This is with a view to increasing fairness and transparency to help improve decision-making by farmers and other food suppliers.

As an independent state agency, the Agri Food Regulator sets its own statement of strategy led by its Board, and work plan based on its expertise in the agri food sector and its engagement with stakeholders. However, it is open to any producers, including malting barley growers, along the agricultural and food supply chain with concerns about the need for transparency and further analysis to contact the Regulator. Such engagement will help inform the Regulator on the needs of the sector. I would also encourage any producer who may be concerned about any breaches of unfair trading practices to raise this with the Regulator.

In regard to the measures taken by my Department to support malting barley growers, the Food Vision 2030 Tillage Group’s report includes a number of actions including to strengthen research capacity and provide early-stage product development support for the malting and drinks sector in developing new products in the drinks sector, and in developing added value from the side-streams and by-products of Irish grown crops in the drinks sector.

In that regard, my Department has provided additional funding to Teagasc to support the National Brewing and Distilling Centre at Oakpark, Carlow. This will enable drinks producers to test or pilot raw materials including Irish grains for malting the production of specialised malts for the drinks sector.