Farmers will take to the streets of Dublin on Tuesday to protest at falling incomes. The demonstration, in Kildare Street, will begin at 11 a.m. Organised by the Irish Farmers' Association, it will be in the context of a crisis in the beef industry as serious as the impact of the BSE crisis two years ago.
The price being paid to farmers for their beef has fallen by 10 pence per lb in the last 10 days because of the uncertainty in the Russian market.
This market, worth up to £100 million annually, is the largest outlet for Irish beef outside the EU and has been thrown into chaos because of the financial crisis in Russia.
The problem is being compounded by the lack of facilities for exporting live cattle from Ireland. Exporters claim they could export twice as many cattle if the ferry space was available.
Pig prices have also fallen dramatically because of overproduction in Europe, problems with slaughtering facilities and the weakness in the Asian financial market, which has traditionally taken large quantities of EU pigmeat.