Anybody watching recent events in the beef industry unfold might have forgotten events of nearly 20 years ago, although there are similarities.

Upon his re-election at the IFA AGM it was reported by RTÉ news on 8 February 2000: “Tom Parlon said that he would do everything possible to maintain what he called ‘the positive public image of farming’ that was established by last month’s blockade of meat factories. Mr Parlon told the AGM that consumers had been able to see for themselves how farmers were receiving an ever-decreasing share of the retail price of beef. Mr Parlon said that January 2000 was a new milestone in the history of the IFA and that the association is determined never again to be taken advantage of by beef processing factories. Mr Parlon resigned as president during the blockade.”

In January 2000, Tom Parlon, his deputy John Dillon and the IFA executive resigned en masse at a late-night meeting in Portlaoise. I remember it well. In those pre-Twitter days, I broke the news as it happened the old fashioned way live by phone to Vincent Browne who presented a nightly radio show on RTÉ Radio 1 at the time. For the agricultural journalist corps back then it was a dramatic few weeks of a fast-moving story. The blockades continued with farmers acting on their own behalf and without the “support” of the IFA before petering out.

On 17 January 2000, RTÉ news reported: “Mr Justice Diarmuid O’Donovan told the court that he had no intention of imprisoning and making a martyr out of some member of the farming community. He said that he will continue imposing fines until it hurts and until the court order is obeyed. He granted the meat processors an interlocutory injunction against the IFA, ordering its members to lift the pickets on the meat processors. Earlier, Mr Justice O’Donovan said there seemed to be no regard for the rule of law among the farming community.” At that stage, the IFA had racked up £500,000 in fines for not lifting the blockades. It was later that night in Portlaoise the resignations took place.

The late Minister for Agriculture Joe Walsh convened talks involving the Irish Meat Association and the IFA in the weeks after as the dispute died down but never died out. Court injunctions were at the centre of the story then, as they are now.

The only real difference between 2000 and 2019 is that the protests had leadership in the form of the IFA two decades ago. But even with their strength in numbers, organisational skills, negotiating power and deep pockets, issues between farmers and factories remain unsolved. So, sorry to say it but what hope does a splintered group of individuals shouting across each other at Minister Michael Creed at a fence on Kildare Street have today?

Almost 20 years later and that news clip could easily be applied now. It’s a cut-and-paste of the history of farmer’s dealings with beef factories. Nothing has changed.

Farmers still have to resort to civil unrest as they have done for over six decades. So, good luck to Michael Dowling and the Beef Market Taskforce in bringing about anything that will change this toxic relationship.