The chairperson of the Agri-Food Regulator (An Rialálaí Agraibhia) has indicated that he is confident that the regulator will be afforded further powers in order to carry out its functions.

Speaking to Agriland at the inaugural conference of the Agri-Food Regulator today (Tuesday, May 20), Joe Healy said that, with the powers the regulator currently has, it is not possible to "get the full picture".

It emerged in February that the board of the Agri-Food Regulator had written to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon to seek an “urgent meeting”.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the regulator’s request for additional powers, which 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 today's conference, Healy explained why those powers were being sought, saying: "The purpose is...that we be able to carry out our function, and unfortunately, up to now, while we’ve carried it out to the best of our ability, when you aren’t getting the whole picture, there’s always that vacuum.

"We're very straight, very independent and very honest with the businesses, but we want them to give us the information as well," Healy added.

"We are happy, having met the minister...[that] the government is committed in the Programme for Government to giving us enough power to do our job, he said his department are treating it as a priority...and that it his intention as minister for agriculture to ensure that the Agri-Food Regulator has the powers to carry out the duties it was set up to do," the regulator chairperson said.

The purpose of today's conference was to discuss the results of the regulator's first Supplier Survey. The aim of the regulator is to carry out such a survey annually.

While the survey noted a high level of supplier satisfaction with how buyers conduct their business, one-in-seven respondents still reported being subject to an unfair trading practice.

Fear of commercial retaliation is one of the reasons cited for suppliers not engaging in the regulator's complaint process.

Commenting on this, the CEO of the Agri-Food Regulator, Niamh Lenehan, told Agriland: "What I would say is that, obviously, the regulator operates a confidential complaints service, but also, commercial retaliation is one of the unfair trading practices.

"So my message is, suppliers, please come forward in confidence. We don't even need to know your name," Lenehan added.

The Supplier Survey saw the regulator work with eight businesses, with the aim that those businesses would send the survey out to their suppliers. While six of those businesses engaged in that process, two did not.

Commenting on this, Lenehan said: "I'm very disappointed, but next year, we intend that this will be an annual survey, and that it would be part of what we do on an annual basis. So there's lots of of opportunity [for those businesses] to still get involved and give a voice to their suppliers."