Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, must immediately resume the second round of talks to address the beef crisis, according to Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture, Charlie McConalogue.
Noting that at present talks are set to resume this Monday, September 9, the Donegal TD commented:
“The minister must immediately resume talks. Waiting until Monday to reconvene a second round of talks is unacceptable and will benefit no one.
We need to recommence talks straight away while the momentum is there.
Continuing, deputy McConalogue added: “On Wednesday the Oireachtas agriculture committee passed our Fianna Fáil proposal mandating the Minister for Agriculture to seek the immediate resumption of talks and calling for meat processors to demonstrate a willingness to address these issues as part of a renewed talks process.
“The committee also unanimously agreed the necessity for retailers to be included in talks,” the deputy highlighted.
Accusing that there is a “lack of real urgency”, deputy McConalogue concluded by calling on the minister to “rethink his decision and start talks today”.
Independent chairman of the recent beef talks, Michael Dowling, is also to be invited with the minister to a meeting of the committee “as soon as possible” for discussions on the dispute.