Irish meat firms Kepak and ABP Food Group have taken action as a result of an ongoing boycott of their plants by beef farmers.
Kepak has laid off 1,400 staff and postponed a planned EUR6.5m (US$7.2m) investment in its plant in Drumquin, Co. Clare as a direct result of what it describes as “ongoing illegal blockades” of meat factories by protestors.
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It follows the news fellow Irish meat group ABP has temporarily laid off 355 of its employees from its plant at Cahir, Co. Tipperary, as a result of the same dispute.
Ireland’s beef farming community is campaigning for beef processors and retailers to pay a higher price for its produce.
The Beef Plan Movement, set up by farmers to argue their case, says in its mission statement “for years farmers profits have been eaten into by beef processors and retailers and as a result beef farming in Ireland is on its knees.
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The organisation, which is facing legal threats from some meat processors as a result of the action it is taking, added: “This plan was born in the hope of saving and rejuvenating beef farming in Ireland before its too late.”
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By GlobalDataIt has engaged over the last few weeks in blockades of beef processing plants which has led to the redundancies announced by Kepak and ABP.
In a statement sent to local newspapers in Clare yesterday (17 September), Dublin-based Kepak is quoted as saying the Clare facility “has to date been the most severely affected of Kepak’s sites by the Beef Plan Movement’s illegal blockades, with all processing suspended there effectively since 2 August”.
It added: “Kepak have now laid off 1,400 people including all staff at Kepak Clare.”
In a statement also issued yesterday, and quoted in the Irish Times newspaper. Co-Louth-headquartered ABP said its temporary lay-offs at its Tipperary plant were also a result of ongoing blockades at the site.
“The protestors have stopped any product going in to or leaving the site. Production has ceased. Furthermore, these illegal blockades are impacting seriously on the thousands of beef farmers who supply cattle to the site, ” it is quoted as saying.
Irish Taoiseach [prime minister] Leo Varadkar has told the country’s parliament – the Dáil – there is the possibility 8,000 jobs could be affected in the long-term by the dispute.
Following talks at the weekend between Irish meat processors and the country’s main farming organisations it appeared an agreement to resolve the dispute had been reached. However, at least one of seven groups representing beef farmers, Independent Farmers of Ireland (IFI), said it was neither accepting nor rejecting the proposals which offer an immediate range of bonuses for beef producers in return for the ending of the protests.
It said reports that all parties had signed off on the deal were not true.
just-food has asked Kepak and ABP to confirm the redundancy numbers quoted.
Meanwhile, The Restaurants Association of Ireland has warned Irish restaurants could run out of beef next week because of the dispute.
