A protester injured at the picket line outside the Dawn Meats plant in Slane, Co Meath, has a catalogue of serious injuries.

Oliver Dixon’s hip was broken in two places, his shoulder broken, femur broken, ribs on both sides broken and his knee cap dislocated, according to Eamon Corley of the Beef Plan Movement.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that the farmer was speaking to another farmer at the window of a stationary jeep when he was struck. Gardaí have said they are investigating.

Separate incident

In a separate incident at Slane, video footage shows a John Deere tractor and trailer pushing round bales of straw and chairs in front of it leaving the factory.

In Co Tipperary, the county’s Beef Plan chair Joe Trehy returned to the picket line outside ABP Cahir last Wednesday after he was hospitalised following an incident involving another man in a jeep and trailer.

A photo that was taken after the incident appears to show barriers and chairs knocked to the ground at the factory entrance

In Co Cork, the Beef Plan Movement’s southwest chair Dermot O’Brien told the Irish Farmers Journal that a van entering ABP Bandon on Sunday morning “just drove in at high speed, with not a care in the world about who was on the line”.

A photo that was taken after the incident appears to show barriers and chairs knocked to the ground at the factory entrance.

A Garda spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal they were aware of the incident.

Aggressive driving

Both O’Brien and Beef Plan’s co-chair Hugh Doyle said they were very concerned by aggressive driving at protests in the past week and they had genuine concern for protesters’ safety.

“A small minority of lorries have lost their cool, driving at speed at farmers and this is completely unacceptable,” O’Brien said.

“Factory management must ensure drivers working under their influence approach and depart in a safe manner.”

Doyle accused factories of “deliberately trying to goad us into doing something that they can gain evidence in order that they will be able to injunct us at a later stage, so I am appealing to all farmers who are at these pickets – obey the guidelines, listen to your stewards, don’t allow yourself to be goaded into doing something that can cripple the success that we’ve had so far.”