MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE Charlie McConalogue has stated that farmers must be respected when supermarkets decide to cut their prices on groceries.
His comments come after Tesco lowered prices on more than 700 products on Thursday, which Finance Minister Michael McGrath referred to as “quite a significant turning point” for grocery price inflation.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s This Week programme today, McConalogue said:
“While it’s important that consumers see the reductions that have now been seen in inflation, it’s crucial that there’s respect there for the primary producers and for the farm families across this country that do massive work in terms of producing that food.”
“The government has been very clear with everyone in that supply chain, that it’s essential that there’s fairness there,” he said.
McConalogue highlighted the soon-to-be established food regulator, An Rialálaí Agraibhia, as a crucial measure to ensure that supermarkets aren’t negatively impacting farmers with their price cuts.
The regulator will be established following the passing of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022, which has completed its fifth stage in the Dáil and will now move to the Seanad.
“The regulator office has very, very strong powers and the capacity to bring prosecutions and fines of up to €10 million in instances where there’s unfair trading practices or where primary producers or others in the supply chain are not getting fair play,” McConalogue said.
“I expect that that office will carry out and perform a very significant function in relation to the food supply chain.”
“It is essential that no reduction in price is at the expense of farm families and the government are absolutely insistent on that,” he added.
Fine Gael TD Minister for State at Department of Enterprise, Neale Richmond, met with retailers last month to address concerns from the government that supermarket prices weren’t falling in line with slowing inflation.
Of the five main grocery firms in the country, three – Tesco, Lidl and Dunnes Stores – do not publish detailed accounts for the Republic of Ireland which would show their profits, meaning that the government doesn’t know if they could be using inflation as an excuse to hike prices more than necessary and reaping higher profits.
When asked if legislation would be put in place to compel supermarkets to disclose their Irish profits, McConalogue said:
“New legislation will provide the type of regulations that will be necessary to make sure that there is transparency in the food supply chain.”
“Obviously, they’re will have to be an appropriate balance struck in relation to how that can be carried out. But the legislation will be giving the powers to do that.”
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