The announcement that McDonald’s is planning to reopen some of its restaurants in Ireland next week has been welcomed by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA).
Commenting on the announcement, made today, Tuesday, May 12, IFA president Tim Cullinan said:
“McDonald’s is a major purchaser of Irish beef, spending €160 million on 40,000t each year, and €200 million in the economy in total through its 130 restaurants.
Beef farmers will be glad to see it re-opening. They will hope and need to see a price increase.
“We had a conference call with McDonald’s yesterday where they briefed us on their plans,” he said.
“McDonald’s is an iconic global brand and the fact it buys so much is recognition of the quality beef produced from our grass-based production system,” the president added.
IFA National Livestock Committee chairman Brendan Golden said that the closing of restaurants across Europe has had a big impact on Irish farmers.
The closure of the food service sector across Europe has hit the Irish beef sector hard and farmers are incurring huge losses.
“The sooner the sector can re-open fully, the better,” he said.
In a statement today, McDonald’s noted that the first six restaurants would be in the Dublin area, which will open for drive thru only on Wednesday, May 20.
This follows the news earlier this month that McDonald’s is to begin its reopening plans by starting with 15 of its outlets in the UK tomorrow, Wednesday, May 13 – on a limited, delivery-only capacity.