Farmers suspend sit-in at Department of Agriculture

A seven-day occupation by grain farmers of the offices of the Department of Agriculture has been suspended to allow talks to take place.

Around 250 farmers suffered heavy losses last year after poor weather destroyed their harvests.

Farmers agreed to suspend their sit-in this evening after the Minister agreed to meet the IFA without preconditions tomorrow morning.

"The reason for our protest in the first place was that there was terms and conditions imposed that we hadn't negotiated," said Liam Dunne, chair of the IFA’s grain committee.

"Our understanding is that there's going to be no preconditions for the talks tomorrow morning, and that's what we looked for in the beginning, and that's what we have achieved.

"We're quite pleased."