The Department of Agriculture has been called on to get “stuck in” and resolve the stand-off between renderers and knackeries by the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) president Pat McCormack.

He said that farmers around the country were finding it impossible to get carcases collected.

Knackery services have been severely curtailed in the last week after rendering plants stopped taking category one material, forcing some knackeries to close completely and leaving others with a limited service.

McCormack said that the ICMSA had no doubt but that fees were at the bottom of the standoff and in those circumstances, it behoved the Department to act as mediator and come forward with serious proposals to end the disagreement.

It is understood that the charge for rendering has increased from €120/t to €180/t by the three rendering companies.

Hands-on approach

“We are going to need the Minister and his officials to take a much more hands-on approach to this and tell the parties involved - whether knackeries or rendering plants - that this has to be solved and solved, moreover, in a way that departs from the usual remedy, where everyone else takes more money and hands the bill on to the farmer,” he said.