Farmers take defiant stand in meat factories blockade

Attempts by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, to bring an end to the blockade by farmers of meat factories hung in the …

Attempts by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, to bring an end to the blockade by farmers of meat factories hung in the balance last night. Both sides adopted a tough line in the dispute which has seen thousands of workers laid off and all factories closed.

The intervention came an hour after the Farmers' Association president, Mr Tom Parlon, told a press conference that the dispute would continue over the weekend in defiance of the court sanction of a £100,000-per-day fine for each day the action continues.

The Irish Meat Association, which represents the factories, said it wanted to see the Minister call publicly on the IFA to end its illegal blockade and it would not decide on whether or not to take part in the talks until later today.

During the High Court hearing, Mr Justice O'Donovan said a Minister of the State had not come out of the matter very well by refusing to comment on the IFA's refusal to comply with the law.

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"I would have thought he would at least have paid lip-service to upholding the law," he said.

On RTE radio, Mr Walsh said the judiciary was independent from politics and he always respected the courts.

"I am not in the business of paying lip-service and I will not comment on what the judge said," he added.

The IMA said that because of the Minister's initiative, which could lead to a reduction of the levy, it had recommended to its members that the increased charge should no longer be collected by its members.

Late last night the IFA's strike committee, meeting in Portlaoise, decided to accept the Minister's invitation to talks which will be held without preconditions. The blockade remains in place. The decision was made more difficult because of the injury to a senior IFA member on a picket line at Slaney Meats, Bunclody, Co Wexford.

Mr Gerry Maguire, who is the IFA's returning officer, was in collision with a truck at the blockade on the plant and was taken by ambulance to hospital in Wexford Hospital for treatment for leg and back injuries, which are not thought to be serious.

After the High Court hearing Mr Parlon said that while he regretted that his members had to "step outside the law", he believed the IFA had right on its side and was being "forced to take on the factory cartel which had build an empire on the backs of Irish farmers".

Farmers, he said, had no protection from either Government, the Department or the Minister for Agriculture and if the factories were allowed to win this battle they would continue to impose levies of all kinds on farmers.

"It is almost our last stand and we must win this battle. I will not sell out my members. The factories made £50 million clear profit on our backs late this year and all we are asking is our fair share of that," he said.

Mr Parlon said the imposition of the increased levy on farmers was illegal and no product would enter or leave any factory until this was removed and a fair price of 90p per lb was paid for their cattle. This was the figure which Teagasc had said was necessary to achieve to remain in business.

He said the IFA would pay the fines but would also be in court on Monday to challenge the granting of the interlocutary injunction to the meat plants on the grounds of the anti-competitive nature of the operation of the meat plants.

Mr Jack O Connor, of SIPTU, estimated yesterday that as a result of the dispute, more than 3,500 workers had been laid off at the 40 meat-plants.

Mr Feargal Quinn, the owner of the Superquinn chain of supermarkets, said that if the dispute continued into next week there would be a scarcity of beef within a fortnight.