Planned beef sector reforms hit by farmer protests

EFFORTS to rationalise the beef sector have been frustrated by the current farmer unrest over their drop in incomes.

Industry sources have also criticised Government interference in the beef market through Enterprise Ireland.

The group commissioned a report in 1998 that suggested 12 to 13 of the 33 plants in the country ought to be shut down. Suppliers to the beef plants say there is a commercial logic to that from the processor’s perspective, but it is commercial suicide for farmers.

One source said price transparency ought to have been made a prerequisite before any serious effort was made to streamline the processing sector.

Earlier this week the closure of Fair Oaks in Clonmel resulted in huge farmer concern that the company was cutting back

In the current hostile climate, with farmers blocking the streets of Dublin, the appetite for reform has been hit hard. Farmers have become more vigilant and any move to push through the beef reforms would face huge farmer opposition, it is reckoned.

For that reason it is understood that the Enterprise Ireland plan has been put on the back burner. Furthermore, it is believed that, until the state of high farmer anxiety about their collective futures has calmed down somewhat, no further moves will be made to bell the cat, so to speak as part of the rationalisation blitz that has been on the drawing board for the last five years.

Fears for the future shape of Irish beef processing are running high as farmers remain convinced that rationalisation will leave them prey to even greater price-fixing among a tighter knit group of operators in the sector.

While the industry insists there is no cartel and has a report to back their stance, farmers are not at all convinced this is so.

“Just because the industry is making low profits doesn’t mean that they are not running a cartel,” said one disgruntled beef producer yesterday.

A top food industry source also accused Enterpise Ireland of making a grave tactical error. He said: “It should never have attempted such a plan until price transparency was no longer an issue for Irish farmers.”

Neither source wanted to be identified.

Several months ago, reports were rife of a breakthrough in the rationalisation debate and some close to the industry believed an announcement was imminent with rumours suggesting that the key players in the sector had finally agreed a deal.

Despite the optimism, no decisions were reached and the process looks destined to drag on indefinitely.