Charlie McConalogue

Agriculture minister Charlie McConalogue today signed a statutory instrument which will give effect in Irish law to additional price reporting obligations for the meat and dairy sectors which will aim to improve food market price transparency in the EU

The new changes build on existing price reporting obligations to provide more information on prices at each stage of the food supply chain, such as the prices at which processors sell product and the prices at which retailers buy product.

Mr McConalogue said: “I am pleased to have signed this important statutory instrument today. I am committed to bringing Increased market transparency to all elements of the supply chain.

“I believe increased price reporting be an important tool, along with other initiatives including the unfair trading practices (UTP) legislation and support for producer organisations, in strengthening the position of primary producers, who are key to the success of our sector.”

He added: “My Department is progressing the drafting of legislation needed to establish the new Office of the Food Ombudsman or equivalent, which will have a specific role in analysing and reporting on price and market data in Ireland, as well as enforcing the UTP Directive.

“I intend that the new office will build on existing work on market transparency, including the market transparency studies commissioned by my Department as part of the work of the Beef Taskforce, which have been completed and published on gov.ie.”