Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My apologies for having to leave the meeting earlier and I ask the Chairman to stop me if my questions have been asked already. I was an active bull beef producer until this year and I do not know what divine inspiration prompted me to decide not to produce it this year. I still have a problem trying to get rid of steer beef. Mr. Spellman summed up the situation well when he referred to the cuts in the price paid to farmers by Tesco in the UK which is still charging the same price to its customers. That clearly explains the pressures being felt by those in the beef industry in this country. Can the panel outline when the 16-month condition came into effect and why that was driven by the meat factories. Regarding the overweight condition, it used to drive me demented when I would kill a lamb, discover it was 2 kg overweight and then not get paid for it. Are we going to see the same happening with beef? Will those farmers with carcasses over 400 kg be penalised? When was this condition introduced and how was it allowed by the farmers' representative organisations? I seek this information in the context of the discussions we will have with representatives of the meat industry later.