Agriculture Department staff suffered 'abusive and intimidating behaviour' from protesters

The Junior Agriculture Minister claims his officials have been subjected to abusive behaviour by protesters.

The first meeting of the Beef Market Taskforce was called off on Monday after angry scenes outside the Department of Agriculture.

The taskforce was set up to try to resolve a price dispute between meat factories and farmers.

In the Dáil this afternoon, Minister of State Andrew Doyle condemned Monday's ugly scenes.

"Members of the taskforce were prevented from attending the meeting and were subjected to physical violence and intimidation," he said.

"Members of staff in my Department were also subjected to abusive and intimidating behaviour.

"While I and we all support the rights of individuals to engage in peaceful protest, I hope that everybody agrees that there's no excuses for the behaviour which occurred on Monday.

"It's completely unacceptable."