Seven Tipperary farmers have reached an agreement with ABP management that the legal action against them is dropped.

It is the first step back taken by any meat processor since legal action began against farmers on Monday 26 August.

Two farmer representatives of the Cahir protesters met with two of ABP’s most senior national management team on Tuesday morning to discuss why the farmers have been protesting outside the gates of the plant.

Having stepped their protest down for the duration of the Chinese audit team’s inspection last week as a gesture of goodwill, the protesters said they wanted to have injunctions lifted from the seven farmers named on the list of 13 posted to the gates of all ABP plants.

This was a red line issue for them, the farmers told ABP.

Agreed

The ABP management team agreed to ceasing legal action and to hold further talks with the farmers on Friday 6 September.

Solicitor James Staines, the IFA’s legal representative working on behalf of the seven farmers, confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that an order was made, on consent, “striking out all proceedings and the permanent injunction against the seven named farmers”.

The order was made on Wednesday.

Further talks

The farmers and ABP management discussed a wide range of issues on Tuesday, including how farmers could get a fair share of the animal’s total value, as well as the 30-month rule, four-movement rule and 60-day residency requirement.

The same topics are expected to be discussed at a second meeting on Friday.

In the meantime, the protesters have agreed that the Cahir plant will operate as normal without any hindrance from the protesters, who will remain at the gates.

The farmers have indicated that they want to see any future round-table talks chaired by Kieran Mulvey, former director general of the Workplace Relations Commission and former chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission.

Oireachtas committee

On Wednesday evening, the Oireachtas agriculture committee agreed to invite Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed and independent talks chair Michael Dowling to a meeting of the committee as soon as possible to discuss the ongoing beef dispute.

The committee, chaired by Pat Deering, also unanimously called for the round-table discussions, without precondition, to be reinstated as quickly as possible. These talks must include the retailers, it said.

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