'No one is too far from the land': President Higgins says farming and farmers must be protected

President Michael D Higgins has waded into the beef crisis by telling crowds on the first day of the National Ploughing Championships in Co Carlow that there needed to be more transparency in the price relationship between producers and farmers.

As tens of thousands of people descended on Fenagh for the opening day of this year's event, protests continued at the gates of meat factories around the country amid a continuing impasse over the issue of base price.