More than 200 farmers led by the IFA president, Mr John Dillon, protested outside Anglo Irish Bank's Limerick headquarters yesterday over the bank's refusal to make any contribution to them following the collapse of Tralee Beef and Lamb Company.
That company went into receivership in 2001 leaving €3.5 million owed to 300 farmers but, because they were not secured creditors, they received nothing.
However, Anglo Irish Bank, the only secured creditor, received €780,000 from the sale of the Tralee plant earlier this year.
Mr Dillon said the protest was called to highlight the refusal of the bank to make any contribution towards the farmer debt.
"Farmers are sending a clear message of their anger at the position taken by Anglo Irish Bank. The IFA has no intention of walking away and will continue to pursue the matter until a satisfactory solution is found to alleviate the severe financial hardship of the farmers concerned," he said.
"We feel that Anglo Irish Bank were first off the mark and grabbed €780,000 with little consideration for the farmer creditors."
Mr Dillon warned the protest was the first in a series of demonstrations to highlight Anglo Irish Bank's "disregard and lack of concern for over 300 farm families that have been left with nothing".
He said there was real anger among the farmer creditors since it had emerged that the receiver sold assets of up to €1.8 million and had paid off Anglo Irish Bank €780,000 with the remaining €1 million being used in the receivership process.
Mr Dillon said it was a scandal that the receivership process had left no payment for farmer creditors.