Farmers protest outside nenagh and roscrea meat factories

 

Hundreds of Tipperary farmers took part in a huge  protest  outside three meat plants in the county on Monday and Tuesday to highlight the large discrepancy between meat prices in the Republic and the UK.

The demonstration by the Irish Farmers Association was part of a nationwide protest that saw crowds of farmers  gather outside a total of 29 meat factories across the country.

The 24 hour protest got underway at 3 o'clock  on Monday, with farmers claiming the price paid for meat in Ireland is a euro per-kilo lower than the North.

Tipperary farmers and their counterparts from surrounding counties held demonstrations outside the ABP plants in Nenagh and Cahir and the Ashbourne meat plant in Roscrea.

IFA President Eddie Downey said farmers are very angry over the massive €350 per head cattle price gap that has now opened up with our main export market in the UK. “Beef farmers have had a very tough year, and with our main markets now recovering strongly they are not prepared to tolerate loss-making prices any longer”, he said.

See full report in this week's issue of The Guardian.

Photo shows Michael Lowry,TD, with a  group of protesting farmers outside the ABP plant in Nenagh.