Dairygold urged to give pig purchase pledge

DAIRYGOLD was urged by pig producers yesterday to give a cast-iron commitment that it will continue to buy at least the same volume of Irish pigmeat as it currently slaughters.

IFA president John Dillon said producers will not tolerate attempts by Dairygold to use the closures as an opportunity to displace Irish pigmeat with imports.

Dairygold chief executive Jerry Henchy stated in a letter to IFA Pigs Committee chairman Pat O’Keeffe that the co-op’s decision to exit the pig slaughtering business was unavoidable because of market conditions and it would not be revoked.

Meanwhile, ICSA rural development chairman John Heney called on the Government to intervene and prevent the Dairygold closures.

“The huge sacrificing of jobs is a ruthless example of how the increasing globalisation of food production is having a devastating affect on rural Ireland,” he said.

Mr Heney said this was at the centre of current WTO talks. He said European farmers interests are being sold out to give corporations more access to new markets for their consumer products. This scale of rural destruction cannot be allow to continue, he warned.

The loss of 100 jobs at Dairygold in Roscrea was described by Fianna Fáil TD Máire Hoctor as a devastating blow for North Tipperary which would make the back to school period even more difficult for many families.

She said it was essential that workers be given every possible support. Both the company and the State have an obligation to help the workers to find new employment in their own areas, she said.

Ms Hoctor said Roscrea has already suffered the loss of Antigen, while in Nenagh, jobs had been lost at Aventis and Tubex, with none of these industries replaced. She called on the IDA and other State agencies to meet immediately and co-ordinate efforts to attract new jobs.

“New jobs are urgently needed to ensure our young people continue to have the option to work and live in their own communities and not be forced to move to Dublin or even further a field,” she said.

Sinn Féin agriculture spokesman Martin Ferris said the closures in Mitchelstown and Roscrea will have a devastating effect.

He said he was also concerned at the manner in which the closures were announced and the apparent failure to follow established procedures involving workers’ representatives. He said the closures also called into question the Government’s strategy for the food industry.