The board of the Agri-Food Regulator has expressed its disappointment over Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon’s delays in moving to grant the body the powers it says are needed to do its job on farmgate prices and supply chain margin transparency.
Chair of the regulator’s board Joe Healy wrote once again to the Minister this week reiterating the call for an expansion of powers.
Currently, the regulator can only request price information from buyers of agri-food goods, but it maintains that it must be allowed to compel players in the supply chain to release the information it wants if it is to carry out its market reporting function.
It has encountered issues when attempting to compile data on the eggs and horticulture sectors.
Transparency
“The board is obviously very disappointed at the length of time in getting a response regarding the necessary powers to deliver on the Regulator’s core function of improving transparency,” Healy told the joint Oireachtas committee on agriculture on Wednesday.
“On behalf of the board, I wrote again to the minister this week to reiterate that clarity on the outcome of the request for additional power is required as soon as possible.”
The board first flagged that it believed the regulator needed the additional power back in September 2024, when it wrote to then-Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.
“We only have the power to seek information. To complete our remit, we need the power to compel,” the committee heard.
Dunnes Stores was named by Joe Healy as a retailer that chose not to voluntarily provide the regulator with market information on eggs and horticulture. / Finbarr O'Rourke
Committee chair Aindrias Moynihan TD pushed Healy to name, under Oireachtas privilege, the supermarket or supermarkets not co-operating with voluntary requests for price information, telling him to “put it out there and put it up to them”.
“As Niamh [Lenehan] said, there were three maybe when we did the egg report but then it had improved and when the horticulture report was done, there was one and that one was Dunnes Stores.”
The board of the Agri-Food Regulator has expressed its disappointment over Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon’s delays in moving to grant the body the powers it says are needed to do its job on farmgate prices and supply chain margin transparency.
Chair of the regulator’s board Joe Healy wrote once again to the Minister this week reiterating the call for an expansion of powers.
Currently, the regulator can only request price information from buyers of agri-food goods, but it maintains that it must be allowed to compel players in the supply chain to release the information it wants if it is to carry out its market reporting function.
It has encountered issues when attempting to compile data on the eggs and horticulture sectors.
Transparency
“The board is obviously very disappointed at the length of time in getting a response regarding the necessary powers to deliver on the Regulator’s core function of improving transparency,” Healy told the joint Oireachtas committee on agriculture on Wednesday.
“On behalf of the board, I wrote again to the minister this week to reiterate that clarity on the outcome of the request for additional power is required as soon as possible.”
The board first flagged that it believed the regulator needed the additional power back in September 2024, when it wrote to then-Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.
“We only have the power to seek information. To complete our remit, we need the power to compel,” the committee heard.
Dunnes Stores was named by Joe Healy as a retailer that chose not to voluntarily provide the regulator with market information on eggs and horticulture. / Finbarr O'Rourke
Committee chair Aindrias Moynihan TD pushed Healy to name, under Oireachtas privilege, the supermarket or supermarkets not co-operating with voluntary requests for price information, telling him to “put it out there and put it up to them”.
“As Niamh [Lenehan] said, there were three maybe when we did the egg report but then it had improved and when the horticulture report was done, there was one and that one was Dunnes Stores.”
SHARING OPTIONS