The Tánaiste mentioned that a new food regulator is going to come in and bring transparency. Undoubtedly, large profits are being made in the food chain but we do not really know where until we know what prices retailers are paying to processors, be it in the dairy sector or the beef sector in particular. They are blaming each other and saying "That is where the profits are being made".

I put forward an amendment to allow the regulator get information on that as there is no such information available in the public domain in Ireland. In other countries this information is available. In the United States of America and in France, for example, they are required to publish figures. My amendment was not accepted. I urge the Government to look at something like that in the Seanad. I do not care if it is my amendment. Perhaps it could look at giving the regulator the power to get information on the prices paid by retailers to the processors.

The minimum price of production in Ireland is currently being debated with regard to milk.

The Deputy's time is up.

Does the Tánaiste believe that somebody, be it the regulator or some other State agency, should be able to determine the minimum cost of production of food items in Ireland?

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I am asking if some State agency, be it the regulator or someone else, should be able to determine the minimum cost of production in Ireland?

That would be an unprecedented intervention in the market and it may not work.

I will not comment on other countries and the challenges they are facing also. It is a fundamentally significant step that we are bringing greater transparency. We want to give greater emphasis to the challenges faced by the primary producer in the costs of production and so they can get a return. We want primary producers to sustain. The sector has been very strong the last couple of years in areas such as dairy and so on-----

Yes it has.

Perhaps it is not a bad time to set up a farmers' party, but that is not the point.