Macra has criticised the make-up of the Retail Forum that met yesterday to discuss the high cost of food. Macra notes that the forum was first established in June 2014 in order to allow key issues of relevance to the retail sector to be discussed. The farming body is critical of a lack of representation of food producers in the forum and the absence of the Department of Agriculture. In a letter to Minister Richmond, Macra President John Keane asks why several other government departments are represented but not Agriculture.
Mr Keane who farms in North Tipperary says it seems, remiss not to include the Department with direct responsibility for food production in discussing food inflation.
Macra says high food prices cannot be tackled by reducing the price paid to primary food producers who have faced increased input costs especially for fuel, energy and fertiliser. The Retail Forum is to meet again in late June to examine food prices at that time. Food inflation in Ireland is estimated at rates between 17% and 13% by Kantar, retail analysts and the CSO respectively.
