MR LARRY Goodman was treated badly by the Government when he was attacked last week in the Dail, the Irish Farmers' Association said yesterday.

"No one is guilty in our jurisdiction until they are proven so by a court," the president of the IFA, Mr John Donnelly, said at a press conference.

The IFA, the State's largest farm organisation, criticised the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Mr Yates, and demanded that he stop "denigrating the entire Irish beef industry".

"Mr Yates's onslaught on the Irish beef industry and the single largest player in it has more to do with justifying the actions of certain politicians retrospectively than with pursuing the alleged perpetrators of irregularities," Mr Donnelly said.

"The fact is that £30 million has been spent on the tribunal into the beef industry and the perpetrators of fraud and other irregularities have not been charged. That is unacceptable to us, he said.

He and the general secretary of the IFA, Mr Michael Berkery said it was clear that the inquiry had not been able to come up with the names of those responsible.

"If they have evidence they should proceed against those responsible. We will fully support them if they do that because we do not accept that fraud should form any part of our lives," Mr Donnelly said.

Mr Berkery said it was not acceptable that the privilege of the Dail should be used by any Minister to attack a private individual.

He challenged the Minister to bring forward any new evidence he had to bring the matter to a conclusion. The IFA's primary purpose was to point out that in the highly competitive red meat area such statements as were made by Mr Yates were very damaging.

He denied that the IFA was taking its stance in an effort to warn the Government that it would not accept a levy on the industry to pay the fines.

A spokesman for the Department said last night the Minister was standing by his Dail statements in order to restore the good name of the industry.