Restrictions caused by a union dispute on the movement of animals, which may lead to welfare problems on farms, will be considered on a strict case-by-case basis, the Civil Public and Services Union said at the weekend. Agriculture Correspondent Sean MacConnell reports.
The union, which has been locked in a bitter dispute with the Department of Agriculture and Food over promotional opportunities in regional offices for the past six weeks, controls the issue of movement permits for cattle in the Department.
The necessary documentation to move animals has been badly hit by the dispute and the main farming organisations at the weekend said they and their animals were now being caught in the crossfire.
The rules were amended by the Department to allow the slaughter of cattle in small abattoirs without certificates.
On Friday, 20 members of the Irish Farmers Association occupied the offices of the Department of Agriculture in Galway, claiming the dispute was causing a major welfare problem on farms where animals could not be moved because the strike prevented the issue of movement permits. But at the weekend, Mr Blair Horan, CPSU general secretary, confirmed that on a strict case-by-case basis in exceptional circumstances of animal welfare, CPSU representatives would meet with the appropriate representatives of the relevant unions to consider if dispute restrictions could be temporarily lifted.
"Our planned action was limited and would not have caused the major crisis now being faced by farmers and consumers. Nothing can justify the inexplicable decision by the Minister and his officials to take our members off the payroll, thereby putting farmer livelihoods and consumer health at serious risk," he said.
"The Minister has already compromised food safety at local abattoirs and I hope he's not going to continue playing Russian roulette with consumer health in preference to getting down to business with us in an effort to solve this dispute", he said.
The dispute now involves 250 clerical grade workers in Tralee, Limerick, Galway, Castlebar and Clonakilty who were taken off the payroll by the Department when they refused to perform certain duties at local offices in pursuit of their claim for better promotional opportunities.
A spokesman for the Department criticised the action of the union for breaking the national agreements and said the Minister, Mr Walsh, was available for talks to find a solution to the dispute.