Meat Industry Ireland (MII) condemned what they described as “the IFA blockade of meat factories” as “disruptive and counterproductive”.

It said: “The beef blockade, which also impacted on lamb processing, was totally unacceptable and ultimately hindered the orderly marketing and supply of Irish beef.”

MII also took issue with recent price comparisons. “The sole focus on the comparison of the Irish price with that of the R3 steer in GB is over-simplistic, inappropriate and misleading. The independent Dowling report (June 2014) into the beef sector confirmed that price comparisons, simply on the basis of the R3 steer, were “not a realistic criterion and not in the interests of either side”.

MII added: “A more appropriate comparison, whilst still not capturing the diversity of meat cuts and market channels, would compare all grades, of all animals (steers, heifers, cows, young bulls, bulls) and should also include all of our export markets. Furthermore it must be acknowledged that EU Commission figures, which use all categories of animals, show that Ireland is currently 100% of the EU average price, which is a very strong performance given that Ireland exports over 500,000 tonnes into EU markets.”