It seems local authority vets and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) are still at loggerheads over inspection fee charges in small abattoirs.

It’s understood that reporting from this newspaper has been used in meetings and, at this stage, I'm starting to feel uncomfortably a bit like piggy in the middle in a row involving sharp knives and abattoirs.

But at the core of the matter are many family farms, that took a chance to diversify into small food businesses and local vets and small abattoirs provide a vital service to them. It would be a pity to lose sight of that.