The treasurer of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Tim Cullinan, has described a recent statement from the Minister for Agriculture as “appalling”.
Cullinan was responding to the statement from a spokesperson for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, which underlined that the minister “cannot legally have a role in setting beef prices“.
The IFA’s treasurer accused Minister Creed of “adopting the role of bystander in the cattle crisis”.
Cullinan said: “By refusing to take his responsibilities seriously, Minister Creed is making himself irrelevant.
“If he cannot, or will not, do the job he was elected to do then the time is rapidly approaching for him to consider his position,” said Cullinan.
The Nenagh protest
Speaking to farmers protesting over the weekend at the beef plant in Nenagh, Cullinan – who is from Toomevara – said: “Minister Creed is abdicating his responsibility to the sector and is ignoring the clear message from the ongoing farmer protests at factory gates which are now entering their second week.
“This crisis has been in the making for over a year and yet the minister is in denial and standing idly by while cattle prices are in free-fall.”
Cullinan added: “I want immediate and direct intervention by Minister Creed. I do not want further committees, working groups or talking shops.
I want Minister Creed to bring the meat processors into his office with farmer representatives, to once and for all deal with the crisis.
“What’s infuriating farmers also is how the factories have been allowed to manipulate cattle prices by using the power of their large feedlots, which is putting the ordinary farmer in a no-win situation.”
Concluding, Cullinan said: “It’s undeniable that factories have accumulated immense wealth on the backs of farmers over the past 10 years and that cannot be allowed.”