Following the decision by Larry Goodman-owned ABP this Wednesday to stop the automatic collection of the European Involvement Fund (EIF) levy supporting farm organisations, IFA president Joe Healy said in a statement that "farmers who are angry over the level of Goodman control of the beef sector will not tolerate his interference in how they are represented".
ABP said earlier that only farmers who apply in writing would now pay the levy.
Instead, Healy said he has written to Goodman to instruct him to suspend the collection of any levy on behalf of the IFA with immediate effect. The funds collected by ABP represent several hundred thousand euros in annual revenues for the IFA.
Competition concerns
He added that the levy was mentioned when he met the managing director of ABP Ireland, Finbarr McDonnell, and ABP's group chief executive, Frank Stephenson, to discuss competition concerns over the proposed part-takeover of Slaney foods by ABP on Tuesday.
The IFA also revealed that it has recently submitted a report carried out by a "leading competition economist" to the European Commission's competition watchdog due to examine the proposed deal. The report concludes that "is likely to weaken competition even further," according to the association.
With this escalation in the row over the Slaney deal, Healy said the IFA would "not be compromised on any issue in its representation of farmers," leading to its decision to stop receiving levies collected by ABP.
The proposed deal between ABP and Slaney Foods has yet to be officially notified to the European competition authorities.
Will you be opting to pay the levy?
Read more
SHARING OPTIONS