The European Commission for Competition has said it requires evidence to launch an inquiry into any claims of cartel-like behaviour in the meat processing industry in Ireland.

Paul Csiszar from DG Competition said participation in a cartel is a quasi-criminal offence and fining a company required due process.

He said evidence was needed to conduct dawn raids and proceed against market players. Csiszar was responding to a question from Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness at a debate on the future of the beef sector in the European Parliament.

McGuinness asked: “Where there are quotes given for cattle to farmers and all of the meat plants have the same offer, does that indicate anything from a competition perspective?”

Csiszar said he could not state without any reservation that there were no anti-competitive practices by Irish beef processors.

However, he also stressed that the Commission had no evidence to suggest there was.

“We called upon Irish farmers and other market participants that if anybody has any evidence or information, either from a whistleblower or from other sources, which could give rise to a competition inquiry against certain companies, we have an obligation to follow up on that evidence.

“But without any evidence, it is extremely difficult for us to speculate. And that’s the same for the Irish competition authority which I’m sure already looked into these allegations. If there is no evidence it’s practically impossible to launch, legally, an inquiry.”

He said farming associations from Ireland had previously approached the Commission, in confidence, claiming there was cartel behaviour by meat processors before publicly stating they had done so.

“The first thing cartelists do when they suspect that an agency would look at them is destroy evidence,” Csiszar said.

“They destroy emails or any evidence based on which we could establish that these market participants meet and discuss a common price.

“We are ready to do our job but for that we need to have some leads,” he said.