Niamh Lenehan, the CEO of An Rialálaí Agraibhia (Agri-Food Regulator) has confirmed that the board of the regulator has written to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon to seek an "urgent meeting".

The purpose of the meeting, Lenehan said, would be to discuss the regulator’s request for additional powers, which was submitted last September.

These additional powers would allow for the regulator to compel businesses in the agri-food supply chain to provide price and market information for reporting purposes.

Speaking at a meeting of horticulture and potato grower members of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) yesterday evening (Tuesday, February 25), Lenehan told attendees that efforts to produce the envisaged report on price and market trends in the horticulture sector had not been possible.

This, she said, was because a number of businesses did not provide the requested data.As a result, a report on the horticulture sector using only publicly available data is now being finalised and will be published on the regulator's website shortly.

Lenehan told the meeting: "Similar to the regulator’s initial efforts to produce a report on the egg sector, the production of the envisaged horticulture report has not been possible as a number of businesses did not provide the requested data.

"While we were pleased to see all but one of the contacted retailers and wholesalers engage with the regulator and provide data, a number of other businesses across the supply chain have not yet provided data," she added.

Lenehan said that the issue had been discussed with the board of the regulator last week, which requested that the board chairperson Joe Healy - a former IFA president - write to Minister Heydon to seek an urgent meeting on the matter.

Commenting on this issue, Healy said: "While the board is grateful to the businesses that provided information to the regulator in relation to the proposed horticulture report, we find ourselves once again hamstrung in the absence of powers to compel businesses to provide data in a timely manner with a view to improving transparency."

He added: "Last September, the board sought additional powers for the regulator as envisaged under the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Act.

"We remain unanimously of the view that additional powers are essential for the regulator to address the issue of the lack of transparency, and information asymmetry, in the agri-food supply chain. We look forward to engaging with the minister on the matter in a timely manner," Healy said.