“The penalisation of farmers by the meat factories for the number of movements an animal has recorded against it has to be tackled," Martin Kenny has said.

The Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson said he agreed with farmers that penalties imposed by the meat processors for movements which are not significant in any way are unfair.

"A recent study carried out by ICOS found that many British supermarkets are not making the strident demands which are being imposed by Irish factories. ICOS correctly pointed out that the Quality Payments Scheme is in fact a quality penalty scheme as it is being implemented by the factories. Bord Bía does not place any of these movement restrictions on cattle."

Beef forum

He called on Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to tackle the issue at the beef forum.

"The beef forum is supposed to look after the interests of farmers as well as the rest of the sector and the Minister has a responsibility to defend the primary producer," he concluded.

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