Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 19 Sep 2019
FARMERS ARE CONTINUING to protest at meat processing factories today despite organisations calling for blockades to be stood down.
The number of protesters at the gates of factories has dwindled in recent days and votes have been held in which farmers voted to stand down the demonstrations.
Last night, farmers at ABP Food Group’s Ferrybank factory in Waterford voted in favour of ending protests and TheJournal.ie understands another vote is to be held at a Dawn Meats plant in Waterford this evening.
But some protesters returned to the gates this morning while factories across Waterford and other parts of the country remain on lockdown with no trucks getting in or out of the premises.
Yesterday, protesters at Dawn Meats in Slane put an end to the protests after a legal action was lodged against the Beef Movement Ireland, according to the Irish Farmer’s Journal.
In a statement this afternoon, Liffey Meats has appealed to protesters to lift blockades at its factory gates.
It said it has over 500 employees waiting to return to work and that many of its 10,000 farmer suppliers “want to sell their cattle”.
“These blockades are having a hugely negative impact both locally and in the surrounding communities, and a lot of local businesses and suppliers to our business are suffering as a result,” a spokesperson for Liffey Meats said.
It is extremely disappointing that despite agreements reached in good faith with all farming organisations last weekend, we have seen no evidence that blockades at our plants are set to cease.
“We would appeal to the protesters to lift the blockades in the interest of all concerned and give the agreement a chance to work.”
Kieran Delaney, a farmer based in Birr Co. Offaly has been attending the pickets at a Nenagh meat factory and said he has no intention of standing down.
“I am very much going to keep picketing,” he told TheJournal.ie.
“I am going to the ploughing today and then I’m back on the picket tomorrow and that’s the general feel among farmers. The fear is that if pickets start to lift in factories around the country we won’t have the support but we are looking at other options too.”
Stand down
Farming organisations made fresh calls for farmers to stand down blockades at factories as fresh talks get underway today.
The Beef Plan Movement agreed to stand down protests in the agreement made with Agriculture Minister Michael Creed at the weekend.
It has been urging farmers in recent days not to continue with blockades and has been working with other farming organisations, including the Irish Farmers’ Association and Irish Cattle and Sheep farmers’ Association to de-escalate tensions.
“Sometimes these pickets are unsafe to approach, they can be dangerous and we’ve seen that in recent days so we have to ensure they’re safe to approach,” Dermot O’Brien, chair of the south-west region said.
“We are aware there are votes happening and different organisations are helping to stand this down. We’ve gone down in person, we tried to make contact with people on picket lines, in the hope they will stand down.”
He added: “The main point we need to explain is that some of these people on the pickets are not farmers at all. The meat processors seem to think that the beef plan movement is still involved in the protests and we are not.”
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) today made a fresh call for farmers to stand down their blockades outside factories and allow plants to reopen this morning.
It also called for companies involved in the dispute to reconsider their approach to the base price of beef, which has been the issue at the centre of the dispute.
“I would now urge factories to reopen and to come forward with a strong base price. This would help to start the process of building some sort of trust and to get the industry up and running,” IFA president Joe Healy said.
“Farmers with animals to sell should contact their factories and drive the hardest possible bargain on the base price,” he added.
An agreement was made between representatives of farming organisations and Meat Industry Ireland following talks with Agriculture Minister Michael Creed.
It allowed for increased bonuses for farmers based on animal’s ages and residency period as well as the withdrawal of all legal actions, in exchange for farmers discontinuing the blockades.
Not all farmers agreed, however, and many continued to protest and block entrances to meat plants in the days that followed.
“The independent review of specifications, including the 30-month age limit, the four movements and the residency period will be very important for many farmers. IFA is clear that if the review shows that these cannot be justified on the grounds of market access, then they should be abolished immediately.”
Impact
The dispute has had a knock on effect on consumers with supermarkets posting notices that beef products are in limit supply, and restaurants warning that beef options are to be removed from some menus from next week.
Jobs have also been put at risk with several hundred people temporarily laid off at meat processing plants.
Meat Industry Ireland claims over 3,000 people have been temporarily laid off from factories across the country.
This week, ABP confirmed it was forced to temporarily lay of 355 staff at its Cahir plant in Tipperary with a further 182 jobs predicted to go by the end of the week.
“The protesters have stopped any product going in to or leaving the site. Production has ceased. Furthermore, these illegal blockades are impacting seriously on the thousands of beef farmers who supply cattle to the site,” a statement from the company said.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Early start for YFG ☺
Brinster will be here soon ..he not due to be in the frame room till 9
Shinnerbots up early.
I would hold other Sinn Fein TDs above Mary Lou,O Breoin or Doherty..who has corrected Noonan’s maths on a few occasions..but its only a personal preference.and the members will decide..as opposed to being appointed..
@Kieran OKeeffe: All credit to Sinn Fein in the north for following the political route this past decade, time for the DUP to step down from the pulpit and put away their bibles.
Mary Lou should look at the derelict state of her own constituency before criticising others.
Do you mean pearse Doherty, the Scottish lad who couldn’t be bothered finishing his taxpayer funded education
What?
Imnotrodten, you don’t have a say, your credibility is shot after you clumsily exposed your multiple accounts yesterday.
I did nothing. You just added 1 and 1 and got 14
@Imnotrodten: Some of the best people I have ever worked, with and I am from an I.T. Security field, and the people I’m talking about where thee very best, Never finished college. That fact that you choose to simply attack this behavior rather than understand why makes me think your not very smart either and thus have no right to make such stupid comments.
She showed shes not up to much when she (correctly) tore into the catholic church over its historical child abuse but demured and prevaricated when similar stories regarding the provos emerged.
There is no way the Army Council will allow “some wee girl from the South” to become leader of SF. No way.
@Charlie Wrex: Similar to FF/FG etc but no headlines for them when similar stories emerged. How often have we heard Noonan questioned about his links with Grace and other abuses or indeed Micheál Martin questioned about Bill Kenneally in Waterford or the disappearance of Mary Boyle in Donegal? They are just small examples through the years.
The media in this country have a strange attitude towards child abuse. All political parties should and must take responsibility for ALL child abuse victims and treat ALL victims equally. That does not happen. Mention child abuse and SF get trotted out while ignoring all others. Equality for all victims not just those that suit the political/media agenda
she showed how morally bankrupt she is when she attacked the church over abuse but didnt how her leader to the same high standards. she is an absolute disgrace
@Charlie Wrex: This is correct. Utterly hypocritical and most people were well able to see it.
@Dublin Living: …doesn’t one get sick of these one sided tyre kickers …The only hypocrisy I see or here is from people like, Charlie , Paddy and Dubln Living
..fer pheck sake wake up you idiots, you are being taken for a ride by the current ff/fg establishment and you are so stupid you can’t see….and thats a No Brainer ..
@CJ Stewart: Tell me CJ, in what was was I hypocritical? I condemned child abuse and I condemned covering it up. I did this to both the church and to SF. Are you sure you know what ‘hypocritical’ means?
It’s not just their links to the IRA that keeps people from voting for them, it’s their mantra style of handling interviews and not answering the hard questions. I reckon if Ms. Mc Donald becomes leader people will automatically switch off as soon as she begins an interview because there is only so much waffle that people can tolerate.
She comes across in interviews like a steamroller with a thin coating of superficial pleasantness.
She is too battlehardened to have the human warmth and charisma that seems lost in Northern politics but is badly needed.
@John Campbell: It’s no surprise the majority of their supporters come from the most poorly educated areas, they are more vulnerable than others.
Hypocrites is a word used in Ireland a lot and rightly so the island is full of them. You lot for example were missing from the ” loyalist invasion” article yesterday, the one were the director of terrorism Peter Robinson led 150 paramilitaries in military formation into Monaghan and terrorised the locals.
I can only imagine your outrage if Gerry Adams had have led nationalists in an invasion of a Protestant community.
But still would you let them near Ireland’s financial brief or legal brief.
They have their own form of justice Ossi, which the vehemently believe supersedes that in Ireland and elsewhere.
@Ossi Fritsche: ….because we are best leaving it the hands of those who know best… ???? …..tell us all Ossi, who got the country in the mess it’s in, in the first place…?
Twice in the last short while SF have had to correct the Government on it’s figures.. So yeah quite frankly I very much feel SF could handle our Finances/Economy!
“We want to be in government. I want us to be in government.”
Funny that. They have a long history of abstaining on many issues, both in the Republic and in The North. It seems to be their modus operandi on challenging issues.
She’s a loose canon, proven many times in her double standards, especially when it comes to sexual abuse cases.
Like Noonan and “the Grace Case?”
Good whataboutery. Still doesn’t get away from the fact that she is just another lap dog for the true leadership.
As opposed to FF or FG who oversaw and helped cover up 100+ years of systematic sexual abuse and violence against tens of thousands of children? With countless deaths from negligence and suicide amongst victims.
@Cillín Ó hEadhra: just because someone points out the facts, you assume they must be supporter of the other parties. Either you are prepared to stand up against sexual abuse (nomatter the source) or else deflect it like it’s ok for some and not for others.
This isn’t about politics, it’s about right versus wrong, and having the guts to call it out. No exceptions.
The NI government fails again. A bitter row between DUP and SF. British and Irish governments step in to patch things up. Mary Lou is Taoiseach. What a prospect for peace in NI.
What I don’t understand is why any political party, who has a leader (Adams) restricting the demographic reach of the party, would not dump him at the earliest opportunity.
Whether its Mary-Lou or someone else, the sooner SF leave behind the old guard the sooner we will see SF in government north and south of the border. The island is screaming out for left leaning government, the sooner the better for all our sakes.
AJ
She lacks the diplomacy. Martin McGuinness formed a friendship with Ian Paisley. It’s born out of must and circumstances…..Mary Lou would cross the street sooner than try to find common ground with a member of FG. This is the biggest problem with Irish politics as the reverse is also true.
Think it’s the other way around. Did you hear the childish carry on of Regina Doherty regarding MaryLou? You wouldn’t see it in primary school. I see Mary Lou in this interview didn’t engage in the same petty behaviour conncerning Regina. That woman is a liability to FG.
Childishness? This is what she said about Mary Lou: “she’s a woman who attempted to justify how long it took Gerry Adams to report his own brother when he was living in Drogheda even though he knew that there were allegations against him made, and I’m sorry, as a woman, as a mother, I don’t know how anybody could live with themselves having done that” Mary lou said regarding catholic child abuse: “Anyone, including Gardaí, found to be complicit in the cover up of child abuse must be arrested and made to face the full rigours of the law” – just not Gerry i guess. I rarely agree with Doherty but shes 100% correct here.
Pity she is not as vocal about her own party’s finance minister with regards to the Grace Case. Did she speak out about that? A hypocrite is what she is.
If the article was about the abject failure of the HSE and seeming intransigence of certain ministers, i dont think id be pointing at Mary Lou and friends to deflect. The Grace case is a genuinely harrowing litany of failure and apparent cover ups. The girl behind the pseudonym deserves complete justice and some animals need jail time. Its a shame shinners point and say what about. Any other party leader directly implicated in covering up and thered be deafening calls for resignations. You might look at John Deasy – hes been very very vocal in questioning and highlighting the case. Feel free to keep up the whataboutery though. Its sadly familiar.
@Charlie Wrex: Mary Lou has time and again condemned child abuse across the board not just been selective http://www.thejournal.ie/mary-lou-sex-abuse-ira-sinn-fein-1987836-Mar2015/ http://www.irishcentral.com/news/politics/sinn-feins-mary-lou-mcdonald-denies-claims-of-a-cover-up-on-child-abuse-allegations (just 2 examples of her condemnation)
Meanwhile Regina Doherty has ignored the links to Grace and the Michael Noonan, she and others in the Dáil have continually ignored the verdict of the Belfast courts, ignored the links between Bill Kenneally and Fianna Fáil, ignored the links between missing child Mary Boyle and Fianna Fáil.
Regina has also made many allegations of ‘death threats’ against her yet not one person has been brought to court or even questioned about them. She also made a statement before the last election stating that victims of bombings brought it on themselves.
Some class from that lady who once again clearly illustrates the hierarchy of victims that exists in not just Irish political and media circles but also as indicated by some on here, who pick and choose what victims they support while ignoring others.
Kerry, im not defending or supporting Doherty. Mary lou said anyone that rapes a child cant call themselves a republican. A very far cry from arresting and jailing catholic church animals that covered up abuse. Mary lou merely denied thered been any cover up within SF. The victims say otherwise. I find her two tiered approach sickening at best and deliberately obtuse at worst. Any politician that engages in this should be run out of office. There should be nowhere to hide for anyone who abuses or covers up child abuse. She needs to be unequivocal rather than partisan and defensive.
Arlene refused to do the right thing and her party backed her….you could substitute Gerry for Arlene in relation to several serious incidents.
@MaryLou(ny)McDonald:
Arlene. Wasn’t she married to Boycie?
Is that a variation on the Hitler salute?
@Paddy Lions: More like Donald Trump, pointing the finger and waving his fist.
Depute?
Referendum in the Republic on Leaving the European “Onion” would be nice.
When will Gerry Adams see the light and understand that in many peoples minds he is connected with the IRA and that the day he retires his party will soar in popularity. He is the one reason why they do badly in elections.
have your say