Two-week suspension of farmers' protests

A DECISION by the Irish Farmers Association to suspend protests over cattle prices outside the country's major beef-processing companies for two weeks was welcomed yesterday by the Irish Meat Association.

Farmers had conducted round-the-clock protests over the past five weeks after complaining that they were being paid the lowest prices in Europe for their cattle.

But the IMA, representing the factories, claimed the IFA had misled farmers into believing that artificially-high cattle prices could be sustained.