2026-01-29

3. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide increased powers and resources for the Agri-Food regulator; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6709/26]

The Agri-Food Regulator has an important role in Irish agriculture. We need to restore confidence in the system because it has broken down. We still do not know the names of the three companies that imported Brazilian beef earlier this year. Has the Agri-Food Regulator told the Minister the names of these three companies? When are we going to find out? Was Dawn Foods one of these three companies? I ask because we have a situation where the head of Bord Bia is also importing Brazilian beef. He simply has to go, yet the Minister seems to be absolutely determined to protect the well-connected rather to protect the sector. That needs to be called out.

That was quite a pivot, Deputy. First, the recall and the food safety elements are a matter for the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, FSAI, which comes under the Department of Health. Any queries in that respect should be directed towards it. The Deputy has touched on the Bord Bia issue here. There needs to be a proper debate and explanation. Obviously, Mr. Murrin will be in front of the joint committee, and happy to engage in that. There is a complete lack of perspective in this debate given the integrated nature of global trades and the fact that this specific trade deal covered over 42 countries.

It is in reference to the sector in general. The farming community has lost confidence.

We have the IFA protesting, and the people who are protesting are being denied that detailed briefing by their leadership. Of all the things I am dealing with this week-----

The confidence of the farming community has been lost.

I am sorry, Deputy-----

I am dealing with a lot of things this week, including the outbreak of bluetongue, working on issues around the Agri-Food Regulator, making sure the carbon border adjustment mechanism, CBAM, does not have a bad impact on farmers and reform of the CAP. I was in Brussels on Monday doing that. I was in the Seanad yesterday on nitrates. This other issue is one being conflated and hyped up, and farmers are being done a disservice because there is not-----

The writing is on the wall.

----practical and fair space for the discussion on this issue. The Deputy standing up here calling for a head and for a witch hunt against someone who has not broken rules, and not wanting any debate-----

Have a debate.

-----and like the IFA, not wanting clear information out there, is not doing farmers any service. It is not. I am going to leave it there. In relation to the actual question the Deputy put down, I am satisfied that the Agri-Food Regulator is fulfilling its overall statutory role to the highest standards, in particular on the unfair trading practices, the UTP legislation, and continues to work on behalf of stakeholders along the agrifood supply chain. In relation to its price and market analysis role, the regulator reported that while the majority of operators had submitted all information requested, a number of operators failed to comply with its requests for information on a voluntary basis. As a result, in December 2025, I signed new regulations to fulfil the programme for Government commitment to confer on the Agri-Food Regulator enhanced powers to compel price and market information from businesses to deliver additional transparency in the agrifood supply chain.

On the agrifood sector, the regulator has stated it does not have enough powers and resources, and this needs to be brought up to speed. As I said, confidence has been lost in the system. The Minister may say this is a pivot but it is all part of the same issue. The farming community has lost confidence in the system because it is being forced to keep standards, and it is quite welcome that they keep to the standards Bord Bia sets and the standards Europe sets in terms of food safety and all those things. They are all in place. Yet they see the people at the top, who are in charge of marketing Irish beef, importing Brazilian beef at the same. It is just untenable that this man can stay in that position. The Minister knows this and the writing is on the wall. Everybody knows it. The farmers are not protesting because they want to. They should be at home. Their cows are calving at this time of the year and they do not want to be up here protesting. They want the Minister to do the right thing by the sector. That is the problem here. It is not a witch hunt against this person.

The price of beef-----

It is a witch hunt against the sector. The Minister is standing over something that is totally untenable.

It is ironic that we are standing here dealing with a question about transparency, the Agri-Food Regulator and the importance for farmers of having transparency-----

Absolutely.

-----when the farm organisation that is currently protesting outside Bord Bia is denying-----

The farming organisation did not import Brazilian beef.

Hold on now, the Deputy wants to-----

Deputy Kenny, allow the Minister to answer.

The heckling is a Sinn Féin trick. Let us park that one for a minute. The farm organisation currently protesting outside Bord Bia is refusing to allow its county executive chairs and the chairs of its commodities committees to receive the detailed briefing from that very chair about the nature of that deal that is being conflated and sold in a soundbite way to farmers. No wonder farmers are upset the way it is being sold to them, and the way the Deputy and others have sold this to them. There is a level of detail there. Once the board of Bord Bia received that briefing, 12 of its 14 members found it absolutely acceptable because-----

Was Dawn Foods one of the companies?

Deputy Kenny, please.

-----that specific trade deal is worth hundreds of millions of euro to Irish farmers and to our industry. The chairman of Bord Bia has overseen exponential growth in the value of Irish food exports year on year-----

All the more reason to restore confidence in the organisation.

When the CSO figures come out in the next couple of weeks, we will see more record growth. This is money going straight into farmers' pockets. They benefit from the integrated nature of global supply chains.

This is all the more reason to ensure we have confidence in Bord Bia. It has done an excellent job in marketing Irish beef and Irish food around the world. We all know that and it is not in dispute. What is in dispute is that the chairperson of a board charged with marketing Irish food is importing Brazilian beef. It is untenable for him to remain in his position. Everyone knows that. The Minister is trying to suggest the that IFA is to blame. Come on. With respect, the Minister has to recognise that there is a serious issue for the whole system. He is eroding the confidence of farmers and consumers in that system. That is what is happening. The Minister is trying to suggest that this is a witch hunt. If that is the case, then it is a witch hunt to ensure that proper standards are maintained and that people can have confidence in the systems that are in place, which they have to adhere to. If the Minister is going to erode that confidence by keeping this person in place and standing by him, he will have to look at this own position because it is simply untenable to allow these circumstances to continue while farmers are outside the gates of Bord Bia's headquarters protesting about this. They are not there because they want to be there. They are there because the Minister will not take appropriate action.

For once, I agree with the Deputy on something. Responsibility for confidence in Bord Bia is spread broadly. It is not on any one entity or farming organisation. Deputy Kenny also has responsibility. The soundbites he is coming out with here, which lack information and are designed to whip farmers up, are also undermining Bord Bia.

The Minister has known me long enough to know that is not the way I do business.

The IFA's rash decision not to listen to the explanation and to rush straight out to protest - it had its mind made up before the meeting that it was going to do that - has also played a considerable part in damaging Bord Bia's reputation. We all have to work to rebuild that reputation. That does not mean getting a head on a plate. Government does not operate by mob rule in such scenarios. I will leave it at that, because this question was supposed to be about the agrifood regulator, which is a very important issue. That will take time. This is novel legislation. We are going further than the rest of Europe. This is about providing the transparency that some others are denying to farmers.