The loss of 1,000 family butchers shops across the State in the last 15 years has meant that only those who are prepared to adapt can stay in the business, the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland warned yesterday.
Falling beef consumption, food scares and the movement of supermarkets into the area traditionally serviced by butchers had led to the sharp decline.
The chief executive of the Associated Craft Butchers, Mr Pat Brady, said there were encouraging signs that the "tide had been stemmed", and there were hopeful signs in the industry with new shops beginning to open.
Speaking at the Butchershow in the City West Hotel, Dublin, he said a new breed of young innovative butchers, using modern marketing tools, was emerging.
Mr Brady continued: "A number of things have happened in the industry in recent years and the most important of them has been the uptake in consumption of beef, which is now back to or slightly ahead of the pre-BSE scare levels.
"With people more conscious than ever about the need to know where their meat comes from, consumers are turning back to the butcher's shop because the butcher will always be able to tell them the source of the meat.
"We have also noticed an upsurge in the consumption of beef with the publication of the Atkins diet which encourages the eating of beef as a healthy food.
"In addition, we have had an influx of people into the country in recent years and foreigners, especially mainland Europeans, prefer to deal with the butcher rather than pick up meat in a supermarket."
Mr Brady said one butcher's shop in Bray, Co Wicklow, where there was a large Chinese community, advertised its wares in Chinese and this was typical of the new kind of butchers who was adapting to market change.
"Despite the inroads made by the supermarkets over the years, the family butcher still provides 64 per cent of beef to Irish customers," he said.
Mr Ciarán Roddy, president of the Associated Craft Butchers, said his organisation was working on a project which would mean that its members would display a common sign on their shops.
It represents a majority of the 1,300 butchers in the Republic.
Mr Roddy went on: "The pharmacists have their sign and the barbers have their red pole.
"We are tendering for a similar sign which could be displayed to identify our members' shops while still retaining the individuality of the premises," he said.
Any consumer who would see the sign would have the assurance that business there was being conducted to the highest level of hygiene and traceability.