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Talks aimed at resolving beef dispute to get underway today

The Beef Plan Movement and Meat Industry Ireland are preparing to meet today. Today's meeting wil...
Stephen McNeice
Stephen McNeice

08.56 12 Aug 2019


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Talks aimed at resolving beef...

Talks aimed at resolving beef dispute to get underway today

Stephen McNeice
Stephen McNeice

08.56 12 Aug 2019


Share this article


The Beef Plan Movement and Meat Industry Ireland are preparing to meet today.

Today's meeting will aim to break the deadlock in the dispute over beef prices.

Recent weeks have seen farmers protesting at processing plants over the low prices for their animals.

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However, the action was suspended on Friday pending the outcome of the talks.

Meat industry groups, meanwhile, have suspended legal proceedings they were planning to try to stop the demonstrations at processing plants around the country.

Representatives from farming organisations and the Department of Agriculture will also attend today's meeting in Kildare, while an independent chair will oversee the talks.

Joe Healy, president of the Irish Farmers' Association, is calling on retailers to attend the discussions to outline what they'll do to help beef farmers.

He argued: "The retailers and the processors need to realise that the farmer and the product that we're producing is what puts [the money] in their pocket.

"There'd be no need for a factory if the farmer wasn't here, and I don't where the retailers would make the massive profits that they're making."

Mr Healy said his organisation also wants "substandard" beef from countries outside the EU to be banned.

He observed: "If we produced the beef in the same way as they do, we wouldn't be allowed to put it on the shelves."

Main image: File photo. Picture by: Michelle Devane/PA Wire/PA Images

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