MR Peter Cassells, general secretary of the ICTU, has been branded a "hypocrite" by a farm leader for his statements that the PAYE sector should not have to pay the EU beef fines.
Mr Raymond O'Malley, chairman of the Irish Farmers' Association's livestock committee, told a protest meeting outside the Dail yesterday that Mr Cassells had said nothing about funding the Tribunal of Inquiry into the Beef Processing Industry.
"Himself and the other trendy lefties said nothing about funding the beef tribunal and even less about the £1.4 million legal fees for Mr Mac Giolla and Mr Rabbitte," he told cheering farmers who were protesting at falling beef prices and the possibility they might have to pay levies for the EU beef fines.
The tribunal was a farce and the whole episode was a political scandal, said Mr O'Malley, who was addressing 2,000 protesters.
The IFA president, Mr John Donnelly, said the message had to go to the Government that farmers would not pay the EU fines under any circumstances and would fight any attempt to levy them.
"We committed no crime so we'll pay no fine," said Mr Donnelly. The levy imposed on the industry by the Government for meat inspections was done to satisfy the Labour and Democratic Left partners in Government, he said.
"What happened was that certain politicians used the privilege of the Dail to make allegations against the beef industry. When the beef tribunal was set up they ran for cover," he said.
Mr Donnelly added that having spent £30 million on the tribunal and now facing £100 million in fines, there was no substantial evidence to prosecute those allegedly involved in wrongdoing.
"The onus for what happened must fall on the politicians who set up this tribunal. Now they are trying to scapegoat the industry and the farmers and it will not wash," he said.
Last night Ms Mary Harney, the Progressive Democrats leader, challenged Mr to state whether he agreed that the irregularities and malpractices uncovered by the tribunal were totally unacceptable and if he wanted to excuse their perpetrators.
A SIPTU vice president, Mr Jimmy Sommers, said in Cork that PAYE workers were outraged at the suggestion that they should pay the beef fines and were angry at the apparent failure of the Department of Agriculture to ensure the fines were paid by those who perpetrated frauds.