The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has claimed that there are still outstanding injunctions on farmers from meat processors, as the Beef Market Taskforce holds its first meeting.

Edmond Phelan, the association’s president, claimed in the run up to the meeting that farmers are also aggrieved over weight penalties in the factories.

“Farmers are outraged that new, more severe weight penalties have been introduced without consultation,” he said.

They are also alarmed that all injunctions have not been set aside and the threat of legal penalties and costs still hangs over the heads of farmers.

As a result of these two issues, Phelan argued that farmers were “already beginning to doubt the commitment of meat factories to the deal done last month”.

“ICSA is insisting that the meat industry must immediately demonstrate good faith by dropping all legal threats. New and severe penalties on weights are a breach of the agreement already reached and we want these issues dealt without delay,” the ICSA president added.

Phelan concluded: “ICSA is also insisting that transparency around pricing throughout the food chain must be central to the work of the taskforce.”

MII claim

This statement from Phelan comes after Meat Industry Ireland (MII) claimed that the commitment to withdraw legal proceedings “connected to the illegal blockading of beef plants” has been honoured by the processors.

However, It has also been claimed that there are at least two, and possibly three, injunctions that arose from the protests still in place.

Paraic Brady, a Fine Gael county councillor in Co. Longford, told AgriLand today that an injunction remains in place against him relating to C & D Foods in Edgeworthstown.

Though C & D Foods is not a beef processor – it produces cat and dog food – it is owned by ABP Food Group.

Brady claimed that two other injunctions remained in place – one for another individual involved in the Edgeworthstown protest, and one for Hugh Doyle of the Beef Plan Movement.

Doyle informed AgriLand this morning that he had not yet received confirmation that the injunction against him was lifted.