Poultry farmers continued protesting at Aldi and Lidl supermarkets in Cavan town throughout Thursday night and into the early hours of Friday morning. Despite heavy rain, they currently remain at the supermarkets, blocking deliveries and calling for a 2c increase on the price they get paid per egg (24c/dozen).

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal on Friday morning, IFA poultry committee vice chair and egg producer Brendan Soden said: “We’re still here and we’re not leaving until a commitment is made on a price increase”.

“We’re for the day and if they don’t come back, we’re here for another night,” he said.

Protests to continue

Soden described how the protests will continue at both retailers through Friday and again into Friday night, with a rota for IFA members joining the protests made up to Saturday afternoon.

He said that in both supermarkets, everyday commodities such as bread, fruit, vegetables and milk have run out due to the protesters’ blockade on deliveries and that this shows that without farmers, there can be no food.

The Cavan egg producer said that there has been no further communication from Aldi management since yesterday, when a commitment was made to arrange a meeting with protest organisers if they agreed to stand down their protest. He said there has been no communication at all from Lidl management to the protesters so far, but he understands they have spoken with their egg suppliers.

Customer support

Soden said customers at both Aldi and Lidl have been supportive of their call for an egg price increase, with a number providing them with buns and confectionary from their shopping trollies.

“Eggs are too cheap. You cannot produce them for more than you’ve to sell them. You don’t get much in supermarket today for €1.89. I got a Whispa chocolate bar in the petrol station last week and it was €1.50, look at that. The likes of Cadbury can produce for a lot less. What are we to do?" he asked.