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The Beef Plan Movement is expecting over 1,000 farmers to attend a peaceful protest outside the Dáil on Wednesday 10 July at 12pm.
The 'Save Rural Ireland' protest has been organised by the group following the announcement that the EU had reached an agreement with Mercosur to allow the importation of up to 99,000t of beef.
Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Beef Plan Movement co-chair Hugh Doyle said: “This is our last chance saloon. We need farmers to come out and support this protest.
"We want to start a rural Ireland revolt, not just a Beef Plan revolt.”
Doyle said the protest was bigger than just the beef industry.
He said the Government had to decide what its priorities were and Wednesday’s demonstration would be a chance for rural communities to voice their unhappiness.
Submission
The Beef Plan Movement plans to deliver a submission containing seven requests to the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed.
Doyle said they were reasonable requests and that if there was no response from the Minister within a given time frame, then the group would be ramping up its action.
We will escalate this to civil disobedience if needs be
One of the requests will be an in-depth study into who receives what from the beef supply chain.
Doyle said everyone knows “down to the last penny” what the farmer receives, but the same could not be said for the retailer.
Ideally, he said, legislation would be brought in that would require retailers to come to the table.
“We will escalate this to civil disobedience if needs be. If the nurses and doctors can do it, then so can we.
"Call it a revolt or call it a revolution, this is our last chance. We feel on more than one occasion the beef farmer has been thrown under the bus,” said Doyle.
Escalation
He said there were various suggestions as to how the group could disrupt the general run of commerce, but that no definitive action had been decided.
Such action would only occur if there was no engagement after Wednesday’s protest.
Doyle said: “The engagement from the Minister has been poor. He may see us as renegades, but I would see us as honest and straight.
"We are angry, yes, but that is because we feel people have forgotten the farmer.”
The Beef Plan Movement has extended an open invitation to other farm and rural organisations to join the protest on Wednesday.
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) has said it will attend the protest as it is “supportive of all actions opposing Mercosur because the consequences for Irish beef farming are so grave”.
ICSA president Edmond Phelan will be attending, along with other members of the association.
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