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What is going on in the Beef Plan Movement? A question I’ve asked myself at least a dozen times over the last number of months.
For an organisation that almost brought the country’s beef sector to a standstill in August and September of last year, the last number of months have seen tempers flare in the fledgling association.
The Beef Plan split towards the end of last year, with founders Eamon Corley and Hugh Doyle on one side and Beef Plan spokesperson Dermot O’Brien and members of the national committee, Eoin Donnelly and Enda Fingleton, on the other.
Concerns over transparency and a battle for power were the main reasons for the split.
The question of what is going on came to the front of my mind in the last week again, ahead of the latest meeting of the Beef Market Taskforce.
The two factions of Beef Plan now claim to be the leaders of the organisation, with statements flying on WhatsApp and social media from both parties in relation to the taskforce.
Corley and Doyle’s side, the Solidarity Beef Plan Before Profit (SBPBP) as I call them, issued a statement on 24 June noting that invitations had been sent out to the video meeting of the taskforce.
“We confirm that the Beef Plan Movement has received no such invitation at our registered address. We have, however, forwarded the names of our chosen representatives to Minister Creed. The minister has advised us that he will not accept our representatives, effectively removing the Beef Plan Movement from the taskforce and once again leaving the beef farmers of Ireland without representation at this forum which was established specifically to deal with issues in the beef sector.
“It would appear that the only persons allowed to attend Minister Creed’s Beef Taskforce are those who represent the interests of other sectors or none at all,” Corley and Doyle said.
However, this wasn’t the case because Dermot O’Brien, of the other side, the Beef Plan Movement-2 (BPM-2), was in attendance at the meeting.
Short memories
It appears that there are some in Beef Plan with short memories.
Dermot O’Brien and Enda Fingleton were the chosen representatives of Beef Plan at the taskforce from the start and attended the first meeting on 3 December at Agriculture House.
After the proverbial really hit the fan in Beef Plan around Christmas, Hugh Doyle requested that the Beef Plan representatives be changed. However, he quickly changed his tune and revoked the call, so as “not to jeopardise the important talks”, essentially approving of their attendance.
So what has changed in the last six months? Absolutely nothing apparently. The war continues, with both sides claiming to represent Beef Plan farmers. Neither side appears willing to step out of the trench to hold out an olive branch to the other. Where next for Beef Plan? Who knows, but if as a collective they don’t get their house in order, they’ll be going nowhere fast and, as a result, their seat at the table would have to be questioned.
Are the current representatives on the taskforce speaking on the behalf of all of Beef Plan? Can they say they represent the association? Is Beef Plan, as it currently is, representing the best interests of beef farmers? Answers on a postcard.
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