High Court proceedings that could have resulted in the imprisonment of people protesting outside two beef processing plants have been struck out following an agreement between the factory owners and the protestors.

Peadar Toibin, the Meath West TD, stood up in the public gallery during the call-over of cases and said he wished to inform the court that some named defendants had not been served with and had no knowledge of the proceedings against them

A visiting Chinese delegation inspecting Irish meat-processing plants may witness a stand-off at one facility today after efforts to broker a temporary lifting of the picket were rejected.

The order was granted in favour of Liffey Meats, which owns and operates plants outside Ballinasloe in Co Roscommon, Ballyjamesduff in Co Cavan and Hackettstown in Co Carlow.

Robert McNamara joins the Irish agri-food trade mission to Japan and finds Irish beef is cooking up a storm in Tokyo, where discerning customers are insisting on high-quality food and knowledge about its provenance.

Tomasz Paszkiewicz (39) has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of fellow Polish man Marek Swider (40) at their home on Dublin Street, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan on January 1, 2018.

The consultancy firm Aramark Ireland is creating 25 jobs in its energy management division over the next 12-18 months to meet growing demand in the “green business” sector.

Three samples of meat out of 1,228 tests have come back positive for traces of horse, food safety chiefs have revealed today.

Why is our beef industry so important?

Tesco is to cease taking any products from frozen meat products supplier Silvercrest after what it calls a "great breach of trust" in the recent horsemeat controversy.

The latest batch of beef burgers tested for horsemeat content show no presence of equine DNA, according to laboratory results released last night.

The Minister for Agriculture and Food has said that a food production company embroiled in the horse meat burger controversy needs to back up its claim that no imported ingredients were used in their products.

Major legal action is expected to be taken by the food production companies involved in the horse meat controversy.

Tesco Ireland said last night it will not take any more stock from the Co Monaghan factory which produced the burgers until it learns how the horse meat got into the burgers.

The companies who provided beef burgers that contained horse meat to Irish supermarkets have withdrawn the products from the market.

Horse meat has been found in a number of beef burgers sold widely in our supermarkets.

Marts: Beef prices have experienced the largest cut in returns in the year to date with up to 10c/kg (4p/lb) wiped off returns to producers who supplied stock to the factories in the past week.

IRELAND’S €360 million food and drink trade to Italy was mainly driven by a surge in beef exports over the past five years, it was revealed yesterday.

Marts: Beef prices have slumped below 2006 level — for the first time this year — after the worst week for the dead trade in several months plunged finished into deeper losses.

As the processors tightened their grips on prices the return on R4L bullocks fell slightly at a number of the plants last week, in an unwelcome signal for producers who increased supply by a further 1,300 head to almost 35,000 head.

As prices continued unchanged last week, returns for the first five weeks of 2007 show a narrowing of the price range for beef animals at the factories to less than 6 cents/kg (2p/lb) dividing the highest and the lowest.

PRODUCERS are beginning to lose the battle with the factories on beef prices, with a majority of the processing centres reducing prices for R4L bullocks by up to 1p/lb or implementing a freeze on prices at previous level.

THE Irish food industry celebrated a €12 million St Patrick’s Day boost at the Irish Embassy in Paris yesterday.

Marts: Fewer factories paid over 94p/lb for R3 bullocks while most of the factories maintained the price for O grade bullocks over 90p/lb for last week’s kill with overall average prices continuing a gradual decline.

Marts: There was a slightly harder tone to the prices at the factories for beef last week, but the margin of increased return was selective and light, very much dependent on location.

Beef prices dropped sharply at the factories last week, shaving the largest single- week cut in returns to producers for the Autumn season to date.