Aontu to Submit a Bill to the Dail to End the Beef Cartel and put a Floor Under Price
Aontú Leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has announced that Aontú are submitting a Bill to the Dáil that seeks to end the cartel nature of the beef market and put a floor under beef prices to protect farmers. He stated;
“A small number of Beef factories and supermarkets have near cartel power that determines all aspects of the beef market including price. Tens of thousands of Farmers have little or no suppler power and cannot affect price at all. This is a dysfunctional, unbalanced market and its grossly unfair on farmers”.
"Beef farmers constitute the main stakeholders in the Irish beef producing industry. Paying farmers a rate for their produce which is below the production costs, while the processing industry continues showing massive profits, is economically unjust. It is pushing farmers into poverty, debt and out of farming”.
"The unchallenged power of meat processors and supermarkets is causing damage to our agricultural sector, leading to fewer and fewer farmers, which is damaging Ireland's ability to be self-sufficient in food supply”.
"The absence of the previous government support for beef farmers, combined with the disastrous EU-Mercosur trade deal, negotiated by Fine Gael's European Commissioner Phil Hogan, it is clear that economic justice for ordinary Irish people, including farmers, is far from what the government is pursuing”.
“However both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin declared support for the previous iteration of this bill. If both parties follow through on their commitment to Beef Farmers now, we have a major opportunity to lift many farmers out of poverty, equalise the market and protect production into the future.”
