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The competition watchdog is treating farmers with contempt, IFA president Tim Cullinan has said.
The criticism from the IFA comes after the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) issued letters in response to over 200 complainants about the beef sector made by farmers and farm organisations.
The CCPC looked at allegations of a cartel in the industry, a breach of competition law in relation to in-spec bonuses, beef imports, feedlots and the offal processing sector. It found no evidence to uphold any of the allegations.
“If the CCPC thinks they have washed their hands of this matter, they are a long way wrong,” Cullinan said.
Legal action
Before the CCPC issued its findings on 5 June, the IFA’s legal representatives wrote to competition body’s chair Isolde Goggin demanding a response to the complaints made by farmers. It said the authority was failing in its functions by not responding to them.
The IFA made it clear to the CCPC that it would pursue a judicial review and take actions for damages caused to farmers’ livelihoods if the CCPC ignored the complaints.
“We learned that rather than investigating the complaints, it took the CCPC all this time to decide to do nothing, without even an investigation. It’s pathetic,” Cullinan said.
“IFA’s legal team is now reviewing the correspondence from the Commission to explore what legal and other options are open to us.”
Report
A recently published report into the beef sector by economist Jim Power commissioned by the IFA concluded an investigation into the beef sector was in the best interests of all to clear up the matter.
“However, the CCPC won’t even try to use its considerable powers to try and seek evidence, despite a huge number of complaints and considerable public disquiet,” the IFA president concluded.
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