The indication by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis that he was happy to leave the ABP acquisition of the Allen shares in Slaney to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has met with a sharp rebuke from the IFA.

IFA national livestock committee chair Henry Burns said he found it “incredible” and called the Minister and the Government to make a submission to the CCPC on the investment, and particularly on the importance of protecting and guaranteeing competition in the processing and rendering sectors.

He highlighted that the average Irish/UK price gap for 2015 has widened to 82c/kg or €293/head. This compares with an average of 27c/kg or €97 per head over the 10 years from 2004 to 2013, highlighting the need for the beef labelling issue to be addressed.

He was also critical of the meat factories on their attempts to introduce weight penalties. He said: “Factories are using carcase weight cuts to flatten the beef price on winter finishers in an attempt to get cheaper beef. With only 10% of our finished beef cattle over 420kg carcase weight, factories and Bord Bia are failing our best and most productive suckler farmers in the marketplace with penal weight limits.”

He highlighted IFA opposition to weight limits because of their negative impact on the beef herd. The Minister was also criticised for failing to take on the issue referring to the section in the Beef Forums where it states: “Processors agree that there will be no dual base pricing for steers and heifers in individual processing plants, by breed, age or weight or Quality Assurance status. The IFA said the Minster is ignoring this with the factories.