merrion street

The ninth meeting of the Beef Taskforce took place took place on Thursday 22nd April.

Three consultancy reports commissioned on market transparency issues are a key part of the work of the Taskforce.

The first two reports produced by Grant Thornton, on competition law in the beef sector,  and on market specifications and requirements,  have already been published and are available on the Department’s website.

A draft of the third report on the price composition along the supply chain has been made available to Taskforce members for comments.  The report will be published after a discussion at the next meeting of the Taskforce, planned for early June . 

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., commented, “I am pleased to see that the three market transparency studies commissioned by my Department, will be concluded soon.  Notwithstanding the challenges in relation to availability of data along the supply chain in the required level of detail, these reports will act as an important starting point for driving increased transparency and will provided the foundations for further work on transparency, which will be carried forward by the new office of the National Food Ombudsman to be established later this year. That office will have a specific remit in relation to price reporting and analysis.”

A detailed discussion on the current market situation and outlook followed a presentation from Bord Bia. There was also an outline of progress on the remaining actions in the Beef Taskforce Agreement.

All documentation relating to the Beef Taskforce including minutes, when finalised, will be made available on the Department’s website. gov.ie - Beef (www.gov.ie)