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Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has pledged to improve the transparency of the beef market in his new role.
Speaking at the Agricultural Science Association (ASA) annual conference on Friday, Minister McConalogue reiterated plans to set up a national food ombudsman.
Agreed as part of the Programme for Government, the ombudsman will act as a watchdog against unfair trading practices in the food supply chain.
“We have to ensure that there is transparency, that there is confidence in terms of margins that farmers are getting the best price possible given what’s available on the international markets which we export to,” the minister said.
It will have the power to enforce the rules and penalise those who breach the regulations
McConalogue said setting up the ombudsman was an immediate priority.
It will have the responsibility of enforcing the EU’s Unfair Trading Practices Directive agreed in April 2019 and is due to enter Irish law in May 2021. It will have the power to enforce the rules and penalise those who breach the regulations. It will also have a role in analysing and reporting on price and market data in Ireland, the programme for government states.
Taskforce
Minister McConalogue stressed that a partnership approach was needed in the beef sector.
“Beef obviously has been under a lot of pressure in recent times and that was very much displayed in relation to the protests we saw last year,” he said.
A fourth meeting of the Beef Market Taskforce has been called for Wednesday 23 September via video conference
The minister believes the taskforce was an important way of putting structure on how issues in the beef sector were dealt with. It was important that the commitments made by all stakeholders in the beef sector agreement a year ago were followed through on, he said.
A fourth meeting of the Beef Market Taskforce has been called for Wednesday 23 September via video conference. The last meeting of the taskforce took place in June with many farmers left unsatisfied by the lack of progress.
Transparency studies
Grant Thornton informed the taskforce that the final reports of three market transparency studies, costing almost €100,000, would be delayed. Bord Bia was also asked to carry out further consultation on its PGI application.
Taskforce chair Michael Dowling has put both items, the proposal for PGI status for Irish grass-fed beef and the transparency studies being undertaken by Grant Thornton, back at the top of the agenda.
Representatives from IFA, Macra, ICMSA, ICSA, INHFA, ICOS and Beef Plan Movement attended the last meeting along with industry bodies Bord Bia, Teagasc, the Department of Agriculture, and Meat Industry Ireland.
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