Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has been called on to reconvene talks with the beef sector by Sinn Féin following the reappearance of factory protests.

Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson Brian Stanley said it was clear from the Beef Plan Movement’s reaction, and from the emergence of unofficial protests, that beef farmers were not happy with the outcome of the talks.

The current economic reality is that the price they are receiving is unsustainable

Stanley said it was unacceptable that pricing was not discussed at the last round of talks.

“At the heart of this dispute is the basic and reasonable demand by beef farmers that they receive a fair and just share of the end retail price, because the current economic reality is that the price they are receiving is unsustainable,” Stanley said.

“The Beef Plan Movement has also made it clear that progress must be made with regards to price-controlling measures which the factories have been exploiting.”

Transparency

He said greater transparency was needed across the supply chain, as the current system played into processors' hands.

Sinn Féin said it is to publish a bill which would “provide much-needed transparency to Irish farmers regarding beef pricing through the establishment of a beef market observatory in the Department of Agriculture.”

The beef price transparency bill will be published tomorrow morning and the proposed observatory would report on cattle prices on a daily basis.

Communication

Stanley said reports had emerged claiming the Beef Plan Movement had tried to contact Minister Creed over the weekend, but those calls were not returned.

He said if those reports were true, it was a serious failure of duty from the Minister.

A spokesperson for the Minister stated earlier on Monday (26 August) that Minister Creed was available to engage with all farm organisations.

“It should be noted however that the protests now commenced at meat processing plants is not endorsed by any farm organisation,” the spokesperson said.