Farmers today rejected allegations from Department of Agriculture sources that they have obstructed the tagging scheme for sheep.
In an article in today's
Irish Times
, Department of Agriculture sources said they had encountered "a great unwillingness to proceed, there had been no progress and the attitude was one of obstruction".
But Mr Pat O'Rourke, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Associationthis morning said: "I find this calculated, slanted disclosure to the press shameful at a time when there should be unity of purpose to deal with the national emergency in the livestock sector," he said.
Mr O'Rourke concluded by saying that ICMSA fully supports the tagging or tattooing of all sheep, and has done so for many years as minutes of meetings with the Department would show.
