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TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has condemned the actions of farmers who blocked representatives of Meat Industry Ireland (MII) from entering a meeting of the new beef task force on Monday.
The task force was established as part of a deal made between farming and meat industry reps last month in a bid to end the weeks long protests outside meat factories.
On Monday, the task force was scheduled to begin its first meetings with representatives from MII at the Department of Agriculture, but was stopped at the entrance of the building by farmers who say the industry has not held up its end of the bargain.
Farmers claim that three people are still facing legal action from meat processors following the protests despite an agreement that farmers would drop the protests in exchange for the withdrawal of all actions.
Today, Varadkar said “aggression and violence” is not the means to resolve any outstanding issues.
“We need to see the task force getting to work and do its job, and that’s why I was very disappointed to see the scenes on the TV the other day, of people impeded from doing their day’s work – being jostled outside that building. I don’t think that’s the way to go.
“Aggression and violence is never justified, and we should never stop people from going about their daily work. It’s definitely not the way forward.
“The agreement brokered by Minister Creed is a good one… and will give farmers the bargaining power that they never had before, particularly when it comes to beef prices and the beef industry.”
Minister Michael Creed announced two weeks ago that former Department of Agriculture secretary-general, Michael Dowling will head up the task force.
On the agenda will be a review of the price farmers get for beef in Ireland – the issue at the centre of the recent dispute – and the ways in which farmer’s concerns can be relieved.
Farmers began protesting back in July over the amount they were being paid by the industry for their produce.
The protests later escalated to blockades at a number of plants, forcing dozens of meat factories to wind down their operations as no trucks could get in or out.
The factories also reported temporary lay-offs of staff while the protests were ongoing.
Minister Creed intervened later in the dispute and held a number of sessions with both sides of the dispute seeking a resolution.
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Thought you were gonna start chatting bout a new Irish wine from Wexford or something going by the headline.
Me too!
Strawberry wine!!!
Gonna bout?
I’d say this has more to do with exchange rates than wine quality.
Chile is cheap, as is South Africa.
Australia is very expensive and the USA is going that way.
the cheapest wine will always sell the best in Ireland, sad but true
I get asked every day at work
” a glass of red please …… what ever is cheapest “
That’s because establishments charge absolutely ridiculous prices for an average wine. Sort out your price list & maybe people will be a bit more fussy.
never hear it in a bar, give us cocktail what ever is cheapest !!
taxes and profit from the bar make wine very expensive in Ireland. that’s a fact. But if you look at a wine at 5.99. Tax is around 3eur per bottle + Vat, shipping cost, price of the actuall bottle (.90cents ) etc…. it’s a bargain. Unfortunately it’s crap.
South African wines are amazing and great value at the moment with the rand
do lidl except rand?
…..don’t drink too much of it though, randy!!
Surprised New Zealand is so low. Best wine I’ve had in a while was Croatian.
Croatian wine are really good quality, but expensive even in Croatia. there are a lot of grape varieties there that you wouldn’t see anywhere else. There’re planting a lot of new vineyards recently, with grants from the EU. To encourage variety in European wines. Isn’t that nice.
sauvignon Dutch Gold. The finest.
if you exclude wine sold in pubs Chile would not be at the top. publicans choose the cheapest wine they can get away with and charge €;24 a bottle. its the publicans choice not the consumers.
We’d be partial to a nice chilled Chilean sauvignon blanc on occasions alright.
First got into wine on a trip to Macedonia, they make some fine wines which I must say seem to be underrated here in the EU due to trade restrictions.
With a hint of immigrants… lol.
Czech Republic also has a booming wine industry. Very little is exported, however there are lots of top quality wines here available, particularly Riesling types, and some lighter reds. Really affordable too with a good bottle costing max 10EUR, but average about 7 to 8.
French unsympathetic …. as one French woman remarked “If the Irish have difficulty with water, let them drink wine”
Very hard to get a non-Chilean wine in a pub. Am allergic to Chilean wines (something to do with the casks they use) and find the lack of other wines at times quite frustrating. Have come across places with 6 wines (3 red and 3 white) 5 of them being Chilean and the other one just about suitable for cooking …
Greek wine is actually very good though quite expensive. Most of the countries listed here can produce decent stuff though I don’t think I’ve ever had a nice Australian or Californian wine – very overpriced too. You can’t beat old world wines really.
Australian wines are lovely, maybe Ireland is importing the not so good ones.
Had a lovely Portuguese red the other day
Hmmmmm wine.
This doesn’t really stack up – the trend on more Chilean wines being bought here does not mean it is the most popular – it’s the wine that most importers are buying in and selling at low cost to pubs etc. If you look at the price index above ppl here are getting more educated on wines – the best value you will get on wine in Ireland is in the €15 to €18 range (taking into account production costs and the various taxes). So people are more discerning with their euros – Not much Chilean wine falls into the €15-€18 bracket so I am confused.
Put more tax on Swiss chocolate and French red wine. With double tax if you have them together in the shopping trolley.
Chilian and Australian wines are just good enough for calimocho, sangria or hot wines…
‘See ya’ – standards have slipped to an appalling degree.
Best wine I ever got was fortified wine use for communion, second was an organic Tesco wine…
A wine from France but I do like Monastier…
Italian, Portuguese and German for preference. Chilean for price but some of their Merlot is pretty good.
It’s me, only joking… Home brewing lol.
If you can’t take a joke then Blossom Hill to you all lol.
A Santa Rita Reserve is particularly nice. My fave.
have your say