IBLA raises €5,000 towards ICBF injunction

The Irish Beef and Lamb Association (IBLA) held a public meeting in Athlone on Wednesday evening, 17 January, to discuss the latest round of ICBF €urostar evaluations, the impact the evaluations have had on farmers and pedigree breeders, and their motion to bring a court injunction against the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).

Over 60 farmers, pedigree breeders and breed society representatives attended the meeting to show their support of the IBLA’s injunction against ICBF and to highlight their concerns regarding ICBF.

Those in attendance, heard from western chair of the IBLA Eoin Donnelly, who said that “this isn’t just a SCEP issue, this is a national beef herd issue”. While some pedigree breeders commented that the star ratings don’t seem to correlate with the bloodlines and the genetic merit in terms of what those bloodlines can do.

What next?

After strong support from the meeting, the IBLA moved forward with its first step in a two-part process and set up a Go Fund Me page. The link went live on Saturday afternoon and by Monday evening it had raised the €5,000 necessary to engage with legal representation. Once a legal team is in place, the €5,000 will be drawn down and, pending legal opinion, the IBLA will set up a second Go Fund Me to raise €20,000 to pay High Court costs associated with seeking the injunction. If the €20,000 is not raised, no injunction will be sought and the IBLA said it will return funds to the donors.