The Competition Authority has raided the offices of the Irish Farmers Association in Dublin as part of an investigation into possible milk price fixing.
About 15 authority officers and a Garda detective raided the association’s headquarters in Bluebell at about 10am.
They left at 4.15pm with a large number of files.
IFA president John Bryan said the raid was unacceptable.
"Taxpayers’ money is being wasted to target farm families struggling to cope with increased costs and collapsing margins for their milk, while the retail multiples pillage the profits out of the food supply chain, screwing both suppliers and consumers,” he said.
In a statement, the authority said it is empowered under the Competition Act to investigate alleged anti-competitive behaviour either as a result of a complaint or on an own-initiative basis.
Where evidence of anti-competitive behaviour was uncovered, the Competition Authority may bring court proceedings against the parties involved or refer the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
