Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is crucial that some body is set up to oversee what is happening between farmers and meat factories because there is a situation in this country where farmers have bought expensive store cattle and some of them are not leaving any profit whatsoever. When one considers that €3.70 per kg is what is being paid in Ireland for good quality cattle, in England farmers are getting €4.40 per kg for their cattle. There is something badly wrong. Most of these Irish cattle are going into England anyway. I cannot understand it. Until the factories are brought into line - I understand fully that the Minister cannot interfere with market prices - farmers will not be treated fairly, as their counterparts in England are, by the meat plants.

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