President of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Joe Healy, has said that retailers and the EU Commission must be included in the talks that the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has convened for today (Monday 12 August).
Healy was speaking at the Tullamore Show on Sunday (11 August), where he argued that while factories are the main problem, “the retailer has a dominant role in the dysfunctional food chain that is not working for beef farmers”.
“They need to be around the table tomorrow to account for their actions and to outline how they intend to address the problem,” he said.
He added that the EU Commission needs to be represented to explain why they have ‘totally undermined’ the EU beef market, and what their future plans are to protect the Irish market from Brexit.
Reform Needed
Healy also questioned the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), and a letter sent by the group to the Beef Plan Movement.
He said that the letter, which mirrored sentiments raised by Meat Industry Ireland last week, showed that the current rules and enforcement structure in the area “is a complete joke”.
Healy said that the CCPC has a history of unfairly treating farmers, and that the agency is “not fit for purpose from a farmer’s point of view”.
“New EU legislation on the Agri Markets Task Force needs to be implemented here. It will require a new state agency with robust oversight and resources to enforce it,” he said.
© 2019 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click sign-up to subscribe to Checkout.
