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Meat Industry Ireland (MII) has said that it will seek a “legal remedy” to ongoing factory protests instigated by the Beef Plan Movement.
MII said it recognised the rights of suppliers to a peaceful protest, but that there had been “unlawful behaviour” by protesters at some sites, including intimidation and “outright illegality”.
The Beef Plan Movement is now holding protests at 22 factories nationwide and the weekly kill is expected to fall to less than 20,000 cattle.
Lay offs
A number of plants have laid off staff temporarily due to the protests. MII laid the blame for these actions at the door of the Beef Plan.
MII stated that the Beef Plan had refused to enter talks with them that Minister Michael Creed had offered to broker.
"MII is extremely disappointed that an initiative brokered by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to bring together the full resources of the State and all the beef sector stakeholders was rejected last night by Beef Plan, who refused to participate," MII said.
Earlier today, the Beef Plan reiterated that it would not enter talks with MII or the Minister unless the precondition to suspend protests during talks was dropped.
“Unfortunately, as a result of the Beef Plan campaign of illegal blockades, companies have been forced to lay off employees, with more expected to be laid off in the coming days as operations grind to a halt,” MII said.
Responsible for the closure of some 14 plants
“At this point, Beef Plan has been responsible for the closure of some 14 plants, while many other plants are now operating well below capacity due to intimidation and breaches of the rule of law.
“Beef Plan claims of conducting peaceful protests ring hollow in the face of these facts,” MII said.
Leadership responsible
On a significant note, MII said that it would hold the leadership of the Beef Plan responsible.
“Beef Plan leadership must bear full responsibility for its actions and the resultant damage caused.
“Unfortunately, because of Beef Plan blockades, and in the aftermath of its refusal to enter talks brokered by the Minister, businesses have, as a last resort, been left with no choice other than to seek legal remedy in an effort to prevent Beef Plan from causing further damage to the Irish beef industry,” it concluded.
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