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The Dawn Meats acquisition of Kildare Chilling will require “robust” investigation by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), says Sinn Féin.
The party’s agriculture spokesperson Matt Carthy TD says this has not been the case with the commission for “these types of mergers and acquisitions” in the past.
Speaking on the Dawn Meats takeover, first revealed by the Irish Farmers Journal on Tuesday, Deputy Carthy said he is fearful it will reduce competition in the beef and sheep sectors.
Letter
The Sinn Féin TD said he will be writing to the CCPC to express these concerns and outline his call for a full investigation.
This week, the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has also pointed out the need for such intervention.
“The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission must investigate thoroughly the impact this will have for competition in cattle and sheep processing, taking into consideration consolidation of processing that has occurred in this region in recent years, in particular the ABP/Slaney/ICM alignment,” IFA president Tim Cullinan said.
Deputy Carthy said he has also asked Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to make a statement on the deal.
“These things have huge implications for the prices that farmers receive in the medium and long term and, therefore, it isn’t acceptable that the Minister simply wouldn’t have an opinion on it,” he said.
Market
The Irish Farmers Journal understands that last year Kildare Chilling killed in the region of 550,000 sheep or around 20% of the national kill.
Through the acquisition of such a major player in the sheep processing sector, Dawn Meats is set to process over 3m sheep annually across Europe.
In 2021, Kildare Chilling also slaughtered in the region of 65,000 to 70,000 head of cattle, or 4% of the national kill, but has the capacity to slaughter 120,000 cattle annually.
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