New agri-food supply chain watchdog to have teeth, says minister

"I will be giving it all the teeth I possibly can," assured the Minister for Agriculture of the proposed Office for Fairness and Transparency.

Minister Charlie McConalogue was at Cavan Town's Digital Hub to meet with local IFA representatives, and amongst the issues on the agenda was the new watchdog for the agri-food supply chain.

The Cabinet this week gave approval to introduce the Bill which will establish the new watchdog. Farm bodies gave the news a guarded welcome, saying it will have to have adequate powers to ensure farmers receive fair treatment from processors and retailers.

"You can't set prices," Minister McConalogue told The Anglo-Celt ahead of the meeting organised by Deputy Niam Smyth. "That can't be done. But what we have to do is have an office that has the heft and the capacity and the credibility and the independence to fully assess what's going on in the market place.

"And also call out practices and put pressure on where practices are not appropriate and where fairness is not in place."

The Celt put the question wondered by the various farming bodies: Do you promise it will have the teeth of a regulator?

"I will be giving it all the teeth I possibly can, within what's possible," said the minister. "But really importantly a lot of this is going to be about having an office with the credibility to be an independent over-seer and influencer."

The Fianna Fáil man said that 90% of all food produced in the Republic is sold abroad and noted that the Irish prices are dependent on the factors at play in international markets.

"But what we need to do is shine a light on what happens from there - the final price back to where it leaves the farm gate and the price they get. And to have an office that has the capacity and influence to be able to ensure that the farmers are getting a fair deal, fully understanding the fact that we can't set price, but we want to ensure that there is influence in the market place so that primary producers and farmers are respected and rewarded for the work that they do."