Members of the IFA are sitting in at the Department of Agriculture over the refusal of Minister Creed to name the meat factories found guilty of excessively trimming carcases, and called on the Minister to reject further restrictions on live export.\ Finbarr O'Rourke
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The IFA is staging a sit-in at the Department of Agriculture offices in Dublin until the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed names the factories fined for excessive carcase trim.
Some 21 cases of excessive carcase trim have been revealed this year by the Irish Farmers Journal and IFA president Joe Healy has called the Minister’s response “pathetic” and accused him of a “cover-up that must be exposed”.
Farmers from the IFA livestock committee and Healy entered Agriculture House on Kildare Street around midday on Wednesday holding sleeping bags.
IFA livestock chair Angus Woods said a monthly name-and-shame list of factories must be set up. “The beef sector suffers from a chronic lack of transparency, and here we have the minister sitting on names that acted illegally and is not offering any transparency. Our demands are very simple. They can be solved by a simple phone call from the minister,” he said.
Live exports
The IFA has also said that restrictions proposed by the European Commission on live exports could be devastating and has called for the minister to step in.
New regulations would cut the assembly period for exporters from 29 days to 14 days.
“The minister must face down the EU bureaucrats and tell them that this change will not be accepted by Ireland,” said Healy.
“As an island nation, we already have additional challenges to get cattle to the continent.”
He said any changes must be rejected.
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The IFA is staging a sit-in at the Department of Agriculture offices in Dublin until the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed names the factories fined for excessive carcase trim.
Some 21 cases of excessive carcase trim have been revealed this year by the Irish Farmers Journal and IFA president Joe Healy has called the Minister’s response “pathetic” and accused him of a “cover-up that must be exposed”.
Farmers from the IFA livestock committee and Healy entered Agriculture House on Kildare Street around midday on Wednesday holding sleeping bags.
IFA livestock chair Angus Woods said a monthly name-and-shame list of factories must be set up. “The beef sector suffers from a chronic lack of transparency, and here we have the minister sitting on names that acted illegally and is not offering any transparency. Our demands are very simple. They can be solved by a simple phone call from the minister,” he said.
Live exports
The IFA has also said that restrictions proposed by the European Commission on live exports could be devastating and has called for the minister to step in.
New regulations would cut the assembly period for exporters from 29 days to 14 days.
“The minister must face down the EU bureaucrats and tell them that this change will not be accepted by Ireland,” said Healy.
“As an island nation, we already have additional challenges to get cattle to the continent.”
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