The new Agri-Food Regulator must be able to address anti-competitive practices and ensure transparency in the agri-food supply chain, a local TD has said.
The new Agri-Food Regulator will be established over the coming months after legislation was introduced last month.
But Roscommon-Galway TD Claire Kerrane warns that the regulator currently does not have the remit to address anti-competitive practices in the supply chain.
Speaking this week, the Sinn Féin TD welcomed the establishment of an Agri-Food Regulator, but raised concerns about their ability to address “anti-competitive practices and cartel-like behaviours”.
“This is an issue that we have heard loud and clear throughout the consultation and legislative process,” she said.
“Farmers want a Regulator that is able to tackle anti-competitive practices and ensure transparency across the agri-food supply chain. This was supposed to be one of the main objectives of the legislation.”
Deputy Kerrane said that despite Sinn Féin’s efforts to ensure these powers were included in the scope of the new Regulator, the Minister refused to do so.
“Myself and my colleague Matt Carthy put forward amendments to include that focus on competition as part of the scope of the Regulator, but they were rejected by the Minister and his Government at every stage of the process.
“We want to see an Agri-Food Regulator that is equipped to act on unfair and anti-competitive practices. That we have a Regulator that cannot do so flies in the face of a clear ask from farmers and primary producers.”
