Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I call on all sides involved in the beef dispute to come to the table. There is a beef forum meeting tomorrow and it is to be hoped progress will be made. Farmers have been outside the gates of factories for 48 hours, and were outside for 24 hours two weeks ago. They do not want to be there, rather they want to be at home looking after their livestock and producing the quality beef which does so well in Ireland.

Farmers are a vital link in the beef chain and it is vital, given the Food Harvest 2020 targets, that we keep them in business. They had responded to the situation, which is part of the problem. I raised this issue as far back as last April. Extra cattle came into the system and as soon as factories saw that they saw an opportunity to cut the prices paid to farmers. If the dispute is not sorted out at this juncture, we will have serious difficulties in the future. It is important that all sides come to the table and solve the problem once and for all.