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LAST UPDATE | 5 Sep 2019
TALKS WILL RECONVENE between the meat industry and beef farmers, agriculture minister Michael Creed announced today, after a previous deal was rejected last month.
With tensions rising as farmers blockade and picket factories over beef prices, Creed announced this morning that new talks are set to take place on 9 September.
In August, the Beef Plan Movement rejected the draft deal reached between farmers and Meat Industry Ireland.
Planned talks come following days of unrest outside meat factories across Ireland.
Today meat processing factory Dawn Meats – which was in the High Court last week seeking permanent orders restraining trespass and intimidation by protesters – reached an agreement with farmers that a factory near Slane, Meath will close until the beef dispute is resolved.
Beef protesters reached agreement with the factory’s management that from 6pm tomorrow the factory will be locked.
In a statement, Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, who has been working with Meath farmers, said:
This morning a deal was agreed in Meath between factory management and farmers. It consisted of the following: all of the trucks with cattle waiting to gain access into the factory would be turned around and sent home. All of the material within the process at the factory would be allowed to shipped out of the factory up until 6pm tomorrow and at that stage the gates of the factory would be locked. The factory will remain closed until the beef crisis is resolved.
Tóibín said that he had been asked by farmers at Slane to represent them at any negotiations in the coming days.
However, in a statement this afternoon a spokesperson for Dawn Meats said that the factory was not scheduled to process cattle tomorrow.
The company did not indicate that an agreement had been reached to close the plant.
“We were disappointed to find protesters illegally blockading the plant this morning. Due to concerns about road safety – given the presence of protesters at the gate – we agreed to divert cattle due to be delivered for processing today. In turn the protesters have allowed the safe exit of lorries to deliver beef to customers,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that the company hoped that Monday’s talks could “provide a mechanism to resolve the situation”.
Talks
This morning, Creed said that there had been “significant engagement” with all of those involved in the beef dispute.
“I believe that there is now a basis for the renewal of talks between the parties,” he said.
Creed warned that if the weeks-long dispute continues, it could “inflict long term damage on the sector”.
Beef Plan Movement Chairman Eamon Corley told TheJournal.ie that his organisation would enter talks again if there were no pre-conditions.
However, he warned that talks should also include the individual farmers protesting on picket lines, many of whom he said had been disappointed by last month’s talks.
“Farmers won’t want to be fooled twice,” he said. Corley suggested that for the talks to be a success “there has to be an avenue for price to be discussed”.
“Factories are going to have to realise that a sustainable price for farmers is going to have to be secured,” he added.
Chairman of the Beef Plan Movement Kerry committee, Dermot O’Brien, told TheJournal.ie that the organisation would not join talks unless threats of legal action were withdrawn by meat factories.
“Goodwill has to be extended by the meat processors,” he added.
He added that he hoped retailers and “everyone along the supply chain” could join the talks.
Earlier this week, meat processing company Kepak accused picketing farmers of damaging Ireland’s future prospects after accusing the Beef Plan Movement of blocking a visit of Chinese inspectors.
However, Beef Plan Movement leaders told TheJournal.ie that they condemned such a blockade. In recent weeks, facing the threat of legal action, the body has stepped back from organising pickets and protests.
Meat Industry
Meat processing plants have taken to applying for injunctions against some protesters in a bid to stop individual farmers blockading factories.
A spokesperson for Meat Industry Ireland today welcomed the announcement and said meat factories would defer legal proceedings if Creed was able to secure engagement in the talks.
“We expect that protest action at the plants will equally be suspended,” the spokesperson said.
“The processing sector has been seriously hampered by protests and blockades in recent weeks which have served no useful purpose but instead have severely impacted domestic and international customers of Irish beef, farmers seeking to deliver factory ready cattle for processing, and meat industry employees across the country,” they added.
Issues can be resolved, Creed said, “if processors and protesters step back from court proceedings and illegal blockades, in order to allow space for meaningful talks to proceed”.
Vice-President of the European Parliament Mairead McGuinness also announced today that she has asked the parliament’s agriculture committee to examine the ongoing dispute.
McGuinness called on the next agriculture commissioner to take a close look the challenges facing the beef sector.
“The protests reflect a deep concern among beef farmers about their immediate and long term future,” McGuinness said in a statement.
Farmers across the EU have seen prices fall, she said, citing “the perfect storm of weak demand, Brexit uncertainties and increased supply” as the reasons for the current issues.
“Relationships between all operators in the chain must be based on trust and fairness. Without such we are threatening the sustainability of our food supply chain,” she added.
Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) President Joe Healy last month said that the reason farmers were not happy with the previous talks is that the central issue of beef prices wasn’t addressed.
“We talk about going back into talks but it’s a waste of time going back in if we can’t talk about price. We mentioned price every time we were in there but unfortunately it couldn’t be talked about, or so we were told,” Healy said.
An IFA spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that the organisation was not currently planning to comment on the announcement of fresh talks. The spokesperson did not confirm whether the IFA, which took part in August’s talks, would be joining in the discussions on Monday.
Creed said that his department would be contacting groups today to make arrangements for the talks.
Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy, however, warned that Creed and the government cannot be a “neutral observer” in the talks.
“Beef farmers need help from the government and Minister Creed must bring forward a set of supportive proposals to help secure the future viability of this sector,” Carthy said.
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Or maybe… more developed countries take less steps because we have better infrastructure and more cars?
@M: Better infra for more cars would equal less steps, and fatter more obese and lazy people, becoming more like the USA all the time…
My smartphone always gives lower step readings than what I actually do as I don’t take my phone with me everywhere e.g. When mowing the lawn.
@M: Why is it that the comments have consistently more logic than the articles?
@M: or the phones are left in the Gym lockers every day ? Not a true picture as even most joggers leave the phone at home.
@M: Well, how does that explain the discrepancy between Spain (more developed with better infrastructure and more cars) and Indonesia (less developed with worse infrastructure and less cars)? In fact, looking at the map above, the evidence seems to point in the completely opposite direction to what you’re saying. Unless you think Libya, Venezuela, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Iraq and Myanmar are all more developed countries than, say, Spain, Japan, Sweden and the UK.
@M: we have a crap public transport system,what are you smoking?
@M: more developed? Hong Kong is number 1 as most people don’t have cars due to having one of the best public transport systems in the world. People clock up a lot of steps changing trains etc. Having more cars does not imply higher development.
The flaw in this study is the asymmetric profile of smartphone ownership especially in poor countries. For instance Indonesians who can afford to own a smartphone are wealthy older people who will be less active. In countries with a more democratic spread of technology such as Japan and Hong Kong you see higher activity levels. Young people own smartphones!
@Clancy: And the other flaw is that many people, especially women, don’t actually carry their phone around in their pocket all day. It’s in their bag, which, unless they are Moominmamma, or the Queen of England, they don’t carry around all day either.
According to my phone, I took 3,726 steps yesterday.
According to my FitBit (which only comes off at shower time), I took 11,587 steps yesterday.
Need I say more about how flawed this study is?
I was going to read it then I thought ” Can’t someone else do it?”
@John Brennan: there’s an app for that….
If they’re using anonymous smartphone pedometers the data is seriously flawed! My phone counts my steps too (happy to say I ‘average’ 8-9k steps on the phone counter). However, like most women, I don’t keep my phone in my pocket so the steps it’s counting are only my commuting steps. The rest of the day the phone sits in my bag, stationary but I’m still moving about for at least some of that time so the true figure is much higher. These averages seem suspiciously low to me.
that”s nuts, who is walking around our cities at the moment constantly even late into the night, refugees with nothing to do. my job does not involve walking, but don’t think it makes me lazy, more likely busy.
They don’t have accurate data, “given the same color as the UK!”.
@Adrian: the whole study is pop sh!te, what about swimmers, field sports, people who don’t take their phone jogging. Senseless drivel.
Dublin marathon just sold out again, must be a few of us doing alright.
Maybe we take less steps because Ireland is small and there is less space to take more steps. Just a thought.
Social Welfare is a plague and should be eradicated apart from old age pensions.
@Owen Martin: so true. Paying people no to work and be part of a community makes them sick.
@Owen Martin: That’s right Owen, those blind and disabled ones are especially lazy and should be left to fend for themselves. Maybe we could get them stuffing envelopes or making number plates, you know, there shouldn’t be any ‘free’ money.
@Jimmy Riddler: couldn’t agree more jimmy. There was an article on here a few weeks back about blind people being able to work.
@RealityHammer: If you have to pay people to be part of a community then its not a community, if you have to bribe someone to be part of a community then it means they hate the community by the amount you have to pay them.
@Jimmy Riddler: wow extraordinary, all those blind and disabled people take welfare of €20 billion per year !!!
To be honest this title “laziest counties” has nothing to do with the content. Very annoying click bait title. I kept reading trying to find more detail on how number of steps relates to laziness and there is nothing.
I couldnt be bothered reading this guff.
They could’ve just counted the number of posts here on a daily basis! My posts don’t count cause half the time they don’t make sense, the other quarter I’m inebriated, and the last eighth I work when I want so post when I want. People will say that’s not a total of 100%, correct, I’ll be damn sure not to make full use of my time, annoy those who say to not enough hours in the day!
@Brown Boots: i think all posters should be breathalysed !
Too lazy to read the article so came straight to the comments to get the gist of it.
Some – not all – might lazy maybe when it comes to doing anything about rotten elected politicians. Walking in protest – stuff that! They would rather stay at home and watch EastEnders or some other equivalent, brain-dead rubbish – while continuing to allow themselves to be further financially screwed, by the usual political Mafia!
@Clear And Graphic: tools to distract the masses from asking questions. The amount of non working time and energy given to watching sports is unbelievable. But if it keeps the masses from initiating a coup when their oil and gas is given away or the bank Ponzi loots their pension reserve fund then keep the distractions going.
Seems we’re too lazy to get to either end of the scale also.
Sure the local post office is never that far away when collecting the “wages” is it. Screw asking why work when the government will pay me….why move when the government will pay me?
Ridiculous study. Were probably tracking something else but passed it off as this BS
I jog 12km every day of the week. Still too much emphasis on cars in Ireland. I think we will get pretty fat in the near future as things stand.
Such a stupid article ! So generalised and using the word ” lazy” takes no account of hard working people without smartphones or the need to be mobile while working. It takes no account of gender. In some countries women work so hard and men do SFA !! In Thailand for example, there is a convenience store every 100 metres because the Thai people do not like to walk in the heat ! However, the women work so hard , long hours, low wages. The men do as little as possible ! The study is a nonsense !
What a stupid way to collect data for a study.
What % of Indonesians go to the gym or pool or take part in sports?
This is more like a study that 2nd class would do.
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