The long-awaited and much-anticipated legislation in relation to the agri-food industry regulator was published last week, a promise which was made in the programme for government and an issue that I have long campaigned for, as I strongly believe it is vital for fair practice in our sector.

Questions around governance, transparency and fair play have unfortunately dogged the food sector for years.

Considering it is the champion of our export industry, it is unacceptable, in particular for the primary producer, to feel like they are being treated unreasonably and, at times, totally unfairly.

The new legislation provides for an Office for Fairness and Transparency in the Agri Food Supply Chain. This, I have to say, surprised me.

I had always been under the impression that we had agreed to set up an ombudsman’s office, with the full powers that comes with the title.

As a farmer myself, I don’t see my voice, my concerns and those of the people I represent feature anywhere in this legislation

The programme for government outlines same and all previous discussion with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine always referred to having an ombudsman’s office.

The new office will have two primary functions as outlined by Minister McConalogue:

  • 1. To perform a price/market analysis and reporting function, endeavouring to bring greater transparency to the agricultural and food supply chain by carrying out market analysis on publicly available agricultural and food supply chain data and by producing reports that will be made available to stakeholders and the wider public.
  • 2. To be responsible for ensuring that fairness is observed in the agricultural and food supply chain by becoming the State’s designated enforcement authority for enforcing the rules on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain.

    • Concern

    The legislation also provides for the Minister to introduce charges for complaints and a levy on industry.

    This point here also concerns me - I find it hard to see that any ‘office’ paid for by industry will be in a position to become a recognised enforcer with powers to legally compel fair play across the board.

    The budget establishing this office is €4m, which might seem like a substantial amount of money, but when you look at what goes to establish other authorities with real teeth, like the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) for example, they have a far greater budget, even 15 years ago.

    Real teeth

    I also have concerns that issues around climate change and sustainability will be shoehorned into this legislation. This office is meant to have teeth for the farmers and fishermen, not following up areas that have plenty of resources being poured into them already.

    As a farmer myself, I don’t see my voice, my concerns and those of the people I represent feature anywhere in this legislation.

    It feels weak, a ‘light’ version of what was always envisaged for the primary producer. The remit of this office is narrow and is liable to be seen as weak by industry and ineffective by producers.

    The fingerprints of industry lay heavy on this bill. Only 28 submissions were received during the public consultation process and I would like the Minister to publish these before the bill goes any further.

    I understand the intention is for the ‘office’ to be up and running by the end of this year.

    While I’m keen to see the promise to bring greater openness to the industry fulfilled, I won’t accept an insubstantial, limited and basically inadequate substitute that this ‘office’, as it is currently described, appears to be.