Tis the season to be jolly eh? What a big fat porker

DECEMBER 8, was traditionally the day country people travelled into towns to begin their Christmas shopping.

The local butcher was an obligatory stop to order a ham to go with the turkey for the festive dinner.

Arrangements were made to collect the meat on Christmas Eve as the shops closed for the holidays. But, yesterday, the Church holiday was different, sad and gloom- filled.

The display fridges that carried a wide range of Irish pig meat products in local shops and super- markets were empty.

The dioxin crisis that has left the bacon processing industry fighting for its very survival was felt all across the country.

That industry has a history stretching back over a century. It has survived recessions, animal disease outbreaks and cyclical price patterns. And it has played an important role in the economic fabric of rural life.

While some of today’s pig farmers are large-scale producers, the industry in less prosperous days was full of small farmers.

The income they derived from the sale of the few pigs they fattened at home often helped to provide second-level education for their children so that they could get jobs in the public service and in industry.

But now it is facing its greatest challenge of all — a potential meltdown that could force some processors and producers out of business and result in job losses.

An estimated 100,000 pigs will have to be destroyed. Food products worth some €125 million are being recalled from home and export markets.

Some 6,000 jobs have been put at risk, as have the livelihoods of many of the country’s 400 pig farmers.

Protection of public health is the main priority of the Government, but efforts are also being made to get fresh, non-contaminated Irish pig meat products into the domestic market as quickly as possible.

The urgency of this task became clear yesterday when about 1,500 workers at meat processing plants were put on protective notice.

They included 850 employees who were laid off at four plants owned by the country’s largest processor, Rosderra Irish Meats, based in Edenderry, Co Offaly, the homeland of Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

Many of these workers are migrants. Some said goodbye to their friends yesterday morning. They were going home.

Returning home also were the sheep, which were part of an IFA protest outside the Department of Agri- culture, Fisheries and Food in Dublin, as part of a campaign to secure funds for the sector.

As the IFA lifted the protest after 12 days and nights to allow Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith to deal with the pig industry crisis, other live animals — donkeys, sheep and goats — were placed in a Christmas crib in the Mansion House forecourt.

The traditional Nativity scene is a symbol of hope and goodwill, which the country will clearly need in abundance in the days ahead, as it strives to protect an industry that’s part of its soul.