Beef producer group Hereford Prime has said that continuing protests are causing “major hardship” for its members and has urged protesters to accept the proposed beef deal and move forward.

The group represents 4,500 beef producers and finishers and said it welcomed the agreement reached by farm organisations and meat processors over the weekend.

Many positives

“We feel that there are many positives for our farmers in the detail of the agreement and the time is now right to move forward,” Hereford Prime said in a statement.

“We are simply looking to allow some of our members the opportunity to sell their cattle that are reaching maturity before they lose out on the bonuses that they deserve.”

Some protests have been stood down, but many continue at meat plants around the country.

Reputation

The group added that it was becomingly increasingly concerned of the resulting reputational damage caused by protests.

“In both the international and domestic markets for our certified Irish Hereford Prime beef, we are becoming very worried that our hard-won reputation for reliability and consistency of supply will be lost.

“Certified Irish Hereford Prime has spent over 22 years building on the quality product delivered by our farmers and our partners.

“We believe it is now time to get back to serving these customers immediately before irreparable damage is done.”

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