Farmers are expected to lift the blockades later today on the remaining three meat plants where deals have not been completed as the rest of the processing industry returns to normal following the dispute which began last Tuesday week.
The remaining plants, all owned by Mr Larry Goodman, have not yet concluded deals with the Irish Farmers' Association and Mr Tom Parlon, its former president, who resigned from the post a week ago.
Neither the IFA nor Anglo-Irish Meat Processors, which operates the plants at Waterford, Cahir, Co Tipperary and Longford, expects any difficulties in the negotiations, which will resume today and are expected to bring the dispute to an end.
A number of other Goodman-controlled plants - in Clones, Co Monaghan, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, Rathkeale, Co Limerick and Bandon, Co Cork - have already conceded to the IFA demand to pay 90p per lb for ordinary quality beef, known as "O" grade.
The delay in reaching agreement in the three plants has had more to do with the logistics of finding personnel to negotiate rather than any reluctance to concede to the IFA demand, a spokesman for the AIBP group said last night.
However, farmers said the Waterford plant was seeking weight restrictions coupled to payment, and this might delay a solution. More than 100 farmers on picket duty yesterday said they would continue their protest until all demands were met.
The other major players in the industry, the Kepak and Dawn Meats groups, which control over 60 per cent of the Irish beefkill, have already conceded the 90p demand. Mr Parlon had to visit the Kildare chilling plant on Saturday to bring that dispute to an end.
However, it emerged last night that the new-found peace between the farmers and the factories could be short-lived. Beef processing sources indicated that they would continue to pay 90p per lb for the present, but would not continue to do so if that price was unprofitable.
"No factory owner is going to run his plant at a loss and go out of business. At the end of the day, the market will dictate the price and not the IFA," one senior industry source said last night.
This was confirmed by other sources in the meat processing industry, who also said that in the wake of the dispute, which has lasted almost a fortnight, demand for cattle would be high and prices would remain high.