Agri group wants consumer commission to have real teeth

The new Competition and Consumer Protection Commission must be transparent, independent, and have real teeth.

That is according to Agri Aware, the agri-food educational body, which has welcomed the consumer bill introduced by Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton, but wants the retail watchdog to have real powers to punish competition offences such as cartels and price-fixing.

Bernard Donohue, the group’s chairman, said: “It is crystal clear from Agri Aware’s recent consumer omnipoll that the public want retailers to pay a fair price to farmers for the quality food that they produce; this new body must take the consumer’s wishes onboard to ensure the farmer is treated fairly by retailers.