BEEF piled up at meat factories yesterday as Department of Agriculture inspectors refused to pass carcases for EU intervention or stamp documents for export refunds.
A spokesman for the Irish Meat Association, representing the meat plants, said some factories had shut and the dispute had disrupted work at others.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, condemned the industrial action, saying it could lead to a closedown of factories.
The action was "opportunistic in the extreme" and was particularly ill timed given the difficulties farmers experienced because of the BSE crisis, he added.
Mr Yates appealed to the union to halt its industrial action which he said was wholly unjustified given the problems in the cattle and beef sector. The Department was available for discussions with the union at all times, he said.
The IMA, which met the Department yesterday to urge it to become involved in negotiations with the inspectors' union, IMPACT, claimed the industry would suffer if the matter was not resolved soon.
Mr John Smith, IMA chief executive, said no beef had been allowed into EU intervention yesterday and the inspectors had also refused to process meat for special export refunds.
"The plants killed over 21,000 animals last week and the peak processing season has arrived. This dispute is already causing disruption and will cause havoc if it continues," he said.
Mr Smith estimated that up to 12,000 carcases were waiting to be deboned and this was creating a log jam in factories. One possible outcome was that the factories might not buy male animals this week.
Last week, the factories tendered for 4,271 tonnes of intervention beef, the equivalent of 13,000 male cattle, which will have to be slaughtered in the next 10 days. Intervention has underpinned the market since the BSE crisis began. IMPACT, the union representing the 300 meat inspectors and meat carcase clarification officers, claimed its action was "rock solid" yesterday and all the plants that remained open had been affected.
"We are not picketing. We are just refusing to co operate with the intervention system which was put in place after the beef tribunal but not used for nearly three years after that," said Mr Gerry Kelly, IMPACT Branch secretary.
His members had additional duties imposed on them by the tribunal and the inspectors had not been compensated for that extra work. The inspectors are seeking more staff and money.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on Agriculture, Mr Brian Cowen, deplored the breakdown in industrial relations in the Department of Agriculture. Mr Yates had to get to grips with the situation immediately and should not allow hard pressed beef farmers to bear the brunt of an internal Departmental dispute, said Mr Cowen.
The Irish Farmers' Association demanded an end to the dispute and said the action was holding the beef sector to ransom at a time when cattle prices were at their lowest in years and the autumn kill in full swing.
The statement said the decision by some Department staff to cease all work associated with intervention was "naked opportunism" and called on Mr Yates and the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, to resolve the dispute.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association described the dispute as "outrageous" and SIPTU called on Mr Yates to intervene to protect the industry and its workers.