Farmers protest at EU stance on beef

SOME 30 members of the Irish Farmers’ Association are staging a sit-in protest at the European Commission’s offices in Dublin.

The farmers entered the offices on Dawson Street at 3pm yesterday in protest at the EU’s weak stance on beef in its trade negotiations with South America, known as theMercosur talks. They plan to occupy the building for 24 hours.

Further protests are likely to follow across Europe, where farmers believe commissioners are trading off access to EU food markets in exchange for Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay making concessions in manufacturing goods, services and government procurement, among other fields.