Tipperary beef farmers say government ignoring their plight despite Dail protest

Tipperary beef farmers, members of the Beef Plan movement, say the government is ignoring last week’s farmers’ protest and is ‘setting sail into the summer recess’.

They say it is one week on since the Beef Plan Movement gathered some 3,000 of their members together and took to the streets of Dublin.

Their ‘beef’ was to highlight their concerns about the future facing rural Ireland and farming communities and the potential impact of the proposed EU-Mercosur Deal.

The protesters handed in a letter to the government demanding greater transparency in the beef industry and highlighted the profit that retailers and meat factories are making out of beef while farmers' incomes are on the floor. 

The Beef Plan Movement negotiating team have met with Fianna Fáil, People Before Profit and have scheduled a meeting with the Green Party this week, as part of their continued efforts to lobby for beef farmers across Ireland.

Beef Plan are amassing cross party support for the situation on small family farms across Ireland and has gained the support of other farm groups.

 It claims the government has shown little if no proactive willingness to engage with the beef farmers of Ireland, and indeed were noticeably absent on the day of the protest. Nevertheless, a spokesperson for Beef Plan commented that ‘our door still remains firmly open to engage with the government...’.

The Beef Plan Movement consider their protest to be a success in highlighting their plight. They would like to extend their thanks to their support groups, the farmers of Ireland and their supporters for turning out in such numbers, and finally to An Garda Síochána and volunteer stewards for their management of the protest on the day to ensure the safety of the general public.

Finally, with over 20,000 farmers subscribed to their movement they won’t go down without a fight.