Work at the Agri-Food Regulator’s office is well underway but I see the regulator has hit a snag in the form of the retailers.

Head honcho Niamh Lenehan has announced that some retailers have not provided the price and market data on the egg sector that she requested.

Her team has not been able to deliver a fully-fledged report on the sector and instead has had to rely on Central Statistics Office and other publicly available data to come up with an interim report that any Tom, Dick or Harry could have garnered off the internet.

While she stopped short of naming and shaming the offending retailers, she warned that the board of the regulator will be reviewing the situation and will take further action if the information is forthcoming.

I have a feeling the regulator’s bark could, in this case, be worse than its bite. Now the regulator knows what it must be like for farmers to deal with the retailers.