IFA labels MII response as ‘pathetic’
Two months since the publication of the Dowling report into the state of the beef sector, the country’s processors have responded.
Meat Industry Ireland (MII) delivered a carefully worded six-page dossier to the Department of Agriculture this week, outlining the specific areas that were requested by Michael Dowling in his report.
The IFA and others have criticised MII for taking too long to produce the report, a claim which is vociferously denied by the factories’ umbrella group. The IFA also said the report is “too little too late”, but that the group must now be held accountable.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal on Wednesday, the chairman of MII Ciaran Fitzgerald rejected claims that the report was sparse on detail, as well as having taken too long to produce. Fitzgerald hoped the report would be a watershed moment for the embattled sector and a point to move forward from.
“We have a constituency of people who we had to talk to about this … It’s not something that we took lightly. We needed a comprehensive report that would deal with the year that we are after having. Not just for us, but for the farmers too,” Fitzgerald argued.
The report covers seven individual topics:
Quality Payment System. Transparency in payments system. Communication of changes to specifications.Winter finishing.Appropriate price comparators.Participation in Quality Assurance. Producer organisations. In terms of the QPS, the report appears to offer little guidance on the future. It states the work that has been carried out in the past and says that the suckler and beef sector has benefited to the tune of €100m every year since the grid was introduced in 2010.
Fitzgerald said that the QPS is “robust” and will continue to “have a future for farmers”.
Regarding changes to specifications and carcase weight issues, MII said that factories have come in for “unjustified” criticism.
It states that carcases up to 380kg are “desired” for accessing premium markets and carcases up to 400kg are “not being penalised”.
The MII report says that “further flexibility” will be shown to the “small proportion” of overweight cattle. However, as well as not outlining how those flexibilities would work, the issue will be dealt with on a “plant by plant basis”, which is likely to anger farmers further due to the lack of commitment given.
The MII report said factories will “give as much advance notice as possible” to farmers, should changes to specifications have to be made.
President of the IFA Eddie Downey said the response from MII is “totally inadequate, lacks specifics and fails to address the issues raised by farmers with the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney”.
IFA livestock chairman Henry Burns described the MII response as “not much more than pathetic”.
“It’s a very poor response overall, I have to say that. It’s a poor response from a meat industry after all the unfair treatment of farmers that they have dished out all this year. They need to recognise there’s a problem, clearly this reports shows that they don’t see a problem.”
IFA labels MII response as ‘pathetic’
Two months since the publication of the Dowling report into the state of the beef sector, the country’s processors have responded.
Meat Industry Ireland (MII) delivered a carefully worded six-page dossier to the Department of Agriculture this week, outlining the specific areas that were requested by Michael Dowling in his report.
The IFA and others have criticised MII for taking too long to produce the report, a claim which is vociferously denied by the factories’ umbrella group. The IFA also said the report is “too little too late”, but that the group must now be held accountable.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal on Wednesday, the chairman of MII Ciaran Fitzgerald rejected claims that the report was sparse on detail, as well as having taken too long to produce. Fitzgerald hoped the report would be a watershed moment for the embattled sector and a point to move forward from.
“We have a constituency of people who we had to talk to about this … It’s not something that we took lightly. We needed a comprehensive report that would deal with the year that we are after having. Not just for us, but for the farmers too,” Fitzgerald argued.
The report covers seven individual topics:
Quality Payment System. Transparency in payments system. Communication of changes to specifications.Winter finishing.Appropriate price comparators.Participation in Quality Assurance. Producer organisations. In terms of the QPS, the report appears to offer little guidance on the future. It states the work that has been carried out in the past and says that the suckler and beef sector has benefited to the tune of €100m every year since the grid was introduced in 2010.
Fitzgerald said that the QPS is “robust” and will continue to “have a future for farmers”.
Regarding changes to specifications and carcase weight issues, MII said that factories have come in for “unjustified” criticism.
It states that carcases up to 380kg are “desired” for accessing premium markets and carcases up to 400kg are “not being penalised”.
The MII report says that “further flexibility” will be shown to the “small proportion” of overweight cattle. However, as well as not outlining how those flexibilities would work, the issue will be dealt with on a “plant by plant basis”, which is likely to anger farmers further due to the lack of commitment given.
The MII report said factories will “give as much advance notice as possible” to farmers, should changes to specifications have to be made.
President of the IFA Eddie Downey said the response from MII is “totally inadequate, lacks specifics and fails to address the issues raised by farmers with the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney”.
IFA livestock chairman Henry Burns described the MII response as “not much more than pathetic”.
“It’s a very poor response overall, I have to say that. It’s a poor response from a meat industry after all the unfair treatment of farmers that they have dished out all this year. They need to recognise there’s a problem, clearly this reports shows that they don’t see a problem.”
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