Farmers ‘must be in partnership talks’

STAYING outside the social partnership talks is a luxury farmers cannot afford, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association claimed yesterday.

The ICMSA stayed in the process earlier this year when three other farm bodies - the Irish Farmers Association, Macra na Feirme and the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society - withdrew in protest over the Government’s handling of the nitrates issue.

ICOS re-entered after meeting with Dermot McCarthy, who is chairman of the partnership process.