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J. Scott Applewhite/AP/Press Association Images

Larry Goodman's meat processing firm has got the green light to buy half a major rival

The IFA condemned the European Commission’s ruling on the merger, which it said would hurt farmers.

THE BIGGEST MEAT processor in Ireland, Larry Goodman’s ABP Food Group, has been given the all-clear from the European Commission to buy half of Slaney Foods.

Together with county Down-based agri-food company Fane Valley, ABP’s acquisition of Slaney Foods and Slaney Proteins was “cleared unconditionally” by Europe’s competition authority.

The combined company will now own more than a quarter of the beef processing market in Ireland.

The European Commission concluded that the merger “would not raise competition concerns” in any of the three markets it could affect.

LARRY GOODMAN BEEF BARRONS MEAT PRODUCERS Larry Goodman Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

With regards to buying live animals – namely cattle, sheep and lambs – the commission ruled that Irish farmers will still have the option to find alternative buyers for their livestock after the merger.

“Farmers in Ireland tend to sell within a rather broad geographic radius,” it wrote.

They are able to switch slaughterhouses if they can get better prices for their animals.

The commission said there were “various slaughterhouses with space capacity” around the country that would continue to operate, including in the southeast areas where Slaney Foods’ slaughterhouse is located.

The sale of fresh meat would not be affected either, it said, because “a number of strong competitors will remain active after the merger”, meaning the combined company would not be able to up prices or “impose detrimental conditions on retailers and industrial meat processors”.

The competition authority also ruled that the acquisition was unlikely to have a negative impact on slaughterhouses in their disposal of animal by-products as the volumes currently collected from Slaney Foods and Fane Valley are modest.

‘Blind eye’

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) strongly condemned the commission’s decision.

IFA president Joe Healy accused the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) in Ireland of turning “a blind eye” by not investigating the merger itself.

“The CCPC turned a blind eye to the serious competition issues in the Irish market for the purchase of cattle,” Healy said.

They effectively washed their hands of the ABP-Slaney deal by leaving it to the Brussels authorities.

Healy said that the European competition watchdog’s ruling that farmers could switch slaughterhouses to get better prices was at odds with the beef trade in Ireland.

Responding to Healy’s comments, a CCPC spokesperson told Fora in a statement that it “did not, in this case, have grounds required to request that the proposed transaction be referred to it”.

8/6/2016. Irish Farmers Association on Brexit IFA president Joe Healy Sam Boal / Rollingnews.ie Sam Boal / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

Earlier this year, the IFA commissioned consultancy firm PMCA to publish its own report on the merger.

Healy said the European Commission’s report “flies in the face of the main conclusion of the PMCA report, which was that the market for cattle is characterised by weak competition and the ABP-Slaney deal is likely to weaken competition even further through a substantial lessening of competition”.

Note: This article was updated to include comments from the CCPC.

Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie

Read: Hostilities escalate between beef baron Larry Goodman and IFA over merger

Read: Meat trader takes legal action against ABP over horsemeat scandal

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18 Comments
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    Mute Dramafree 2023
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    Mar 15th 2023, 11:00 AM

    Where are they off to with the “not affected by the cost of living increases” do these household shop in special shops where prices have not changed. Imagine the cost of the admin alone to decide who did and didnt qualify. Like the age old argument on childrens allowance. Just give it to them, they take it with the other hand in taxes.

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    Mute Michael Reilly
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    Mar 15th 2023, 11:07 AM

    @Dramafree 2023: who elected this looney left outfit to decide anything.

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    Mute Donal Ronan
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    Mar 15th 2023, 11:11 AM

    How about our taxes being better TARGETED and not funding all these organisations.
    I doubt anyone has a problem with them existing, but they should be funded by people that want to be involved with them, not hard pressed taxpayers.
    After all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

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    Mute TheQueenofHibernia
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    Mar 15th 2023, 12:26 PM

    The Standing Charge on my electricity bill is always bigger than the actual cost of electricity. I am careful with the usage of electricity but it’s impossible to economise with pay Standing Charge, VAT etc. on top of paying for electricity. As for rich people being subsidised. Well that’s Ireland for you. The standing charge for a mansion on a thousand acres is the same as the standing charge for a caravan on a halting site. The politicians and the people in this country are always careful to take good care of the wealthy people in this country.

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    Mute Sal Paradise
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    Mar 15th 2023, 1:55 PM

    @TheQueenofHibernia: Except most income tax is earned from the so call wealthy people. So the more someone earns the more they pay in tax!!

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    Mute Cable Stayed
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    Mar 15th 2023, 1:04 PM

    People comment like this is free money that appears magically and gets distributed based solely on need. I wish that it was, but unfortunately in the real world it’s money from taxpayers. The simple fact of life is that if you want to redistribute the wealth from the richest to the poorest for important one off things like this, you need to give something back to the people that will be paying the majority of the cost. It may not be the most economical solution but that’s the politics of life.

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Mar 15th 2023, 11:08 AM

    Bit late now.

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    Mute Fairplay for all
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    Mar 15th 2023, 12:38 PM

    The Energy Grant was paid to people with Holiday Homes and 2ND / More properties,
    I have heard people boast that this grant paid for holidays abroad

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    Mute Fairplay for all
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    Mar 15th 2023, 1:17 PM

    This is not a redistribution of wealth,it is simply a measure to assist the less fortunate to keep stay alive, there is no justification for a double payment to the owner of both a principal private residence and a holiday home, one person can only use one house at one time. Remember the less well off also pay many forms of taxation.

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    Mute Cable Stayed
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    Mar 15th 2023, 1:37 PM

    @Fairplay for all: Public spending is funded by taxation, the redistribution of wealth for the benefit of society is done through taxation. Therefore any public spending that gives money to those most in need, is a redistribution of wealth. As I said, it is not the most economical way of doing it, but it is the simplest and most widely accepted. The same can be said for all universal payments like children’s allowance and even the fact that everyone gets a tax free allowance regardless of wealth. In this case, every one who didn’t really need it will end up paying the €800 back through tax and also a portion of the people who really needed the €800. Means testing one off measures like this is expensive, time consuming and very likely to miss a lot of people that need it.

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    Mute Kate Peters
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    Mar 15th 2023, 5:49 PM

    I’m disabled and only for the decent tax paying people I’d have no heat,thank yee for that,I put in €900 that I got,I’ve a small little 2 bed house,I checked ita few days ago,and it’s almost gone,like April can be the worst month of the year with weather,I think because everyone,working people aswell,are so conscious of electricity,and fuel,that feels like it’s constant and never ending.

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    Mute Ned
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    Mar 15th 2023, 5:35 PM

    Friends of the earth go away

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    Mute Fairplay for all
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    Mar 15th 2023, 3:04 PM

    As it is a mechanism giving money both to those in need and those who already have it is not a redistribution of wealth it may be a redistribution of money and yes childrens allowance allowance payments should be restructured to favour those in need.

    A targeted approach, which may be more cumbersome is surely within the remit of the respective Government departments such an approach would be far more effective and equitable.

    13
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