“Cracks are beginning to appear in the cosy consensus” around the 30-month age limit for cattle, according to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).

In a statement on the matter, ICSA beef chairman Edmund Graham raised questions around the age limit, saying:

“News that Supermacs boss Pat McDonagh has said that he has no problem with beef from animals up to 36 months-of-age, added to the same admission by Lidl, exposes the 30-month rule for what it is – a racket to keep farmers down, unable to sell freely when they want to,” he said.

Turning his attention to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), Graham said:

It further begs the question why the CCPC has not sent any letters to meat factories challenging this anti-competitive practice.

“The market has clearly been rigged against farmers who are in a very weak position but the CCPC has had no problem with this.

“The very fact that all processors continuously operated the same rule, and repeated the same mantra, even though they each have a different portfolio of customers, is blatant evidence of cartel-like behaviour.

“But the CCPC has turned a blind eye to this. It averts its gaze from the big three processors and then is hyper proactive in threatening the representatives of small-scale farmers who are being crucified in a rigged market.

“The outcome is the sorry pass we have arrived at today with farmers on their knees and losing money hand over fist. It has now gone too far.

So it is now impossible to persuade farmers that they have anything to gain by being responsible and leaving the pickets.

“For too long, they have acted responsibly, and factories and retailers have responded by squeezing them more and more,” Graham concluded.