It should not be left up to farming organisations to investigate whether there are uncompetitive practices in the beef sector, according to Sinn Féin’s spokesperson for agriculture Matt Carthy.

It comes after the IFA announced it was seeking "concrete evidence" of a beef cartel, in response to a finding by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) that there was insufficient evidence to warrant an investigation of the beef sector.

In the Dáíl on Thursday 9 July, Carthy said: “The people that should be doing this are the CCPC, who’ve said they won’t investigate it because they don’t have the evidence. Which is crazy stuff, because clearly you need an investigation to gather the evidence.”

The people that should be doing this are the CCPC, who’ve said they won’t investigate it because they don’t have the evidence. Which is crazy stuff

The Cavan-Monaghan TD asked the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar whether the Government would assess if the CCPC needed additional legislative powers to conduct an investigation, or if it was better to assign another body to the role.

Regulator

He asked if an independent beef regulator was needed to deal with the number and gravity of concerns that had been raised about the sector.

In response, the Tánaiste said the CCPC functioned by acting on complaints and those complaints needed to be backed up by evidence. He said it was his understanding that there had been an investigation some years ago that did not return any evidence.

Varadkar said the CCPC fell under his Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, but that he was new to the brief and promised to provide a more comprehensive response on the matter.

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