Marts chairman urges North and South to join forces for beef sector

Ireland should join with the North to create an all-island area of protected geographical indication for Irish beef, said Michael Spellman, chairman of ICOS’s national marts committee.

Mr Spellman has called on Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to engage with his counterpart in the North, Michelle O’Neill, to create a protected geographical indication category for Irish beef. This, he says, would also allow unrestricted free trade between the jurisdictions.

ICOS, the industry body for co-op livestock marts, has accused meat factories of controlling and manipulating pricing, and discriminating against livestock marts. Its proposal follows its EU submissions that Irish meat factories are subverting the free trade of livestock across the North and South, and into the UK.