8 NOVEMBER 2019

ICSA beef chair Edmund Graham has said Minister Creed must up the ante and get the Beef Markets Taskforce moving. “Following a summer of protests and tough negotiations an agreement was reached by all sides. We now want to see that agreement implemented in full,” he said.

“A major part of the agreement was the establishment of the Beef Markets Taskforce. The meat industry, by failing to remove each of the outstanding injunctions, have single-handedly paralysed the taskforce and prevented it from even getting off the ground. One group, under the ABP banner, is effectively holding the whole process to ransom. The minister must answer why he has allowed this to happen.”

“Furthermore, it is high time for the Bord Bia Beef Price Index to be up and running and for Teagasc to come through with their promised desktop review of the grid. Missing deadlines is not acceptable.”

“We have fought hard for more fairness and more transparency in the beef sector and the taskforce has the potential to deliver this. These are long-term structural changes that are well overdue and ICSA will not stand back and allow the can to kicked down the road repeatedly.”

“It is scandalous that farmers feel they are actually in a worse position now than they were several months ago. Factories are continuing to use the excuse of a backlog of cattle, but the reality is they are just continuing to manipulate the system at the expense of the primary producer.”

“Our beef farmers can’t wait any longer. We will not accept any further delays. The taskforce a has a lot of work to do, yet nothing concrete has come of it yet. Minister Creed must step up the pace, get things moving, and not allow any single player to employ delaying tactics.”

ENDS