Cattle price protest finishes without breakthrough

The protest over cattle prices by the Irish Farmers' Association ended today at 4 p.m. with no new developments to break the deadlock.

A spokesman for the IFA said they are considering the next stage of the protest.

Today's protest signals the end of the third week of the dispute between IFA and the Irish Meat Association over the prices farmers receive for cattle.

No cattle were slaughtered for the last two days at the three Kepak plants where the protest took place. However, the company did slaughter sheep at its Athleague, Co Roscommon, plant, where no attempt was made by the protesters to prevent production.

Yesterday the IFA President, Mr John Dillon, said "the marketing failure by the factories has left Irish farmers with the lowest cattle prices in Europe."

Mr Dillon said: "The enormity of this failure is exposed by the €160 per head difference this week between cattle prices in Ireland and our nearest neighbour, Great Britain."

Meanwhile the Labour Party spokesman on Agriculture, Mr Jack Wall, today called for the immediate intervention in the dispute of the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Joe Walsh.

"There is no doubt that Irish farmers are not getting a fair or equitable treatment in relation to cattle prices in this country at present. At a time when farming is already in crisis the Minister has a duty to seek a resolution to this dispute."