An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s comments on reducing his meat intake were stupid, according to Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae.Addressing a crowd of over 350 farmers at a Beef Plan meeting in Castleisland Mart, he said that he had told the Taoiseach directly that his comments were stupid.
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s comments on reducing his meat intake were stupid, according to Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae.
Addressing a crowd of over 350 farmers at a Beef Plan meeting in Castleisland Mart, he said that he had told the Taoiseach directly that his comments were stupid.
Varadkar had made the comments in the wake of the EAT-Lancet report, which encouraged reducing individual meat intake in western countries by over 90%.
“The Taoiseach came out with his statement that he was going to reduce his carbon footprint by reducing his meat intake,” Healy-Rae said.
“Tourism is great and everything else is great but we are a farming country and we can’t forget that and when the Taoiseach of a country thinks it’s a good idea to encourage people to stop eating beef, well I don’t agree with that and we took him to task for that because that’s the wrong type of statement for any man to be coming out with.”
“I wouldn’t care what politics he was or what colour or creed he was, any politician that’d come out with that, it was a stupid statement and I told him that at the time.”
WhatsApp groups
Healy-Rae’s brother and fellow TD Danny Healy-Rae was also in attendance at the Beef Plan meeting, which now claims to have over 17,000 participants in its nationwide WhatsApp groups.
The ultimate goal of the movement is to create a producer group base of 40,000 farmers who will have the power to command better beef prices from factories.
There was heavy criticism at the meeting of perceived red tape and the inspection regime at farm level.
“People are terrified of them when they come because it could mean that you finish up with no payment for that year and that’s what’s keeping people alive in rural Ireland today because it isn’t the price they’re getting for their animals they’re producing because they’re not being paid properly,” Danny Healy-Rae said.
After an initial frosty start between the Beef Plan and Healy-Raes, with a public disagreement in Kenmare Mart, the two sides made a very public rapprochement with the Healy-Raes giving their full support to the movement in Castleisland Mart.
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