Farmers protested against the closure of the Limerick Regional Veterinary lab earlier today, with two farming organisations present.
Members of the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) and the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) were present at today’s protest at the Co. Limerick facility in Knockalisheen.
The Deputy President of ICMSA, Pat McCormack, has said that the association ‘rejects outright’ the idea that any of the six remaining Regional Veterinary labs should be closed.
McCormack was speaking at the facility, located on the Co. Clare side of Limerick city, where several dozen farmers picketed while the Department’s Review Team arrived.
“The idea that this lab, which serves Limerick, Clare, north and mid-Tipperary and all of Kerry from Kenmare to Listowel, would close with the thousands of affected farmers expected to make their way to Athlone or Bishopstown in Cork is downright bizarre and completely unacceptable.
This is one of the most intensive farming and food production regions in the state and these labs are the ‘First Line’ in maintaining the reputation of our multi-billion euro food sector.
“We only have six veterinary labs for the whole State and Limerick is one of the busiest and, to our knowledge, the lab that handles most of the kidney selenium tissue testing for the whole State,” he said.
The ICMSA does not accept any suggestion that a vital piece of agri-infrastructure could be closed and we would regard that as a seriously retrograde step, he added.
All the evidence and logic tells us that the lab network servicing our food and farming sector should actually be enhanced to deal with the serious challenges that we can all see coming down the line, McCormack said.
Protests in Co. Kilkenny
The ICMSA also held a protest at the beginning of January against the threatened closure of the Regional Veterinary Lab in Co. Kilkenny.
Farmers all over the southeast are categorically against the prospect of closure or amalgamation of the lab, Chairperson of Kilkenny ICMSA, John Robinson, said.
These farmers would regard this prospect as an inexcusable degradation of a vital piece of agri-infrastructure at precisely the time when the region’s farmers and critically important food production sector needs reassurance and support, he said.