FG senator questions logic of food summit with no voice for primary producers

Tim Lombard queries why the crunch retail forum includes retailers 'from Primark and Eason' but not food producers

Cork South-West-based Fine Gael senator Tim Lombard with his party colleague Neale Richmond TD during a visit to Bandon. Now Senator Lombard is calling on Mr Lombard to address the membership of the Retail Forum. File picture: Andy Gibson

A Fine Gael senator has criticised the fact that there is “no voice” for the primary producer at a food price meeting later this week and said there is “no logic” to having the summit.

Tim Lombard said: “Wednesday’s meeting will include representatives from Primark and Eason but no voice for the primary producer. 

"The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media will be represented but nobody from the Department of Agriculture. I question the logic of this and what can be achieved when the primary producer is excluded.”

He said the meeting of the Retail Forum called by Neale Richmond, the minister of state with responsibility for retail business, is welcome, but that there is a “glaring omission” from this crucial discussion. Mr Lombard added: 

There is no voice for the primary producer on the Retail Forum. How can we be serious about discussing concerns around food prices without them?

"There is no representative from Teagasc, Bord Bia, the Department of Agriculture, or farming organisations on the Retail Forum. We need to be proactive and include all stakeholders.

“The primary producer is getting squeezed by the supermarket retailers on one side and by rising costs on the other side.

“Meanwhile, the retail selling cost of some of the products farmers produce is decreasing. They are getting paid less while having to deal with ongoing inflation.”

The forum includes representatives from retail trade bodies, unions, the training and skills sector, and large retailers such as Tesco, Eason, Musgrave, and Primark but does not contain food producers.

Mr Richmond said retailers should “step to the plate” to ensure food prices come down. 

He said the discussion will be “frank” as he will ask them why food inflation is at 16.3%, ahead of general inflation.

“We appreciate that there’s always a delay between prices coming down and inflation dropping and all that, but we have been waiting some weeks and months since we’ve seen inflation peak and start to come down but we haven’t seen those price cuts across staple goods in supermarkets before last week.

“There’s a lot more that both retailers and food distribution companies can do, we believe, to bring down the cost for consumers whilst maintaining a fair price for farmers across the country.”

Mr Richmond told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the price of butter and milk has been brought down “with the stroke of a pen”.

He said that while the Government can cap prices, this is not something that would be done lightly.

“We will do more in the budget, but the private sector and the food sector have to step up to the plate on this,” he said.

The meeting comes as Sinn Féin is preparing to table a Dáil motion on the issue which will be debated  on Tuesday evening. 

The party’s  enterprise, trade and employment spokeswoman Louise O’Reilly said the Government has shown “no urgency” to tackle food price inflation.

“This week, Sinn Féin is calling on Government to do all in its power to ensure savings made by supermarkets and large food retailers in respect to falling input costs are passed on to consumers through lower grocery prices.”