We should be clear – the ongoing beef protests, regardless of their legality, are a sign of the anxiety felt across the beef sector at farm level. In cases, it represents farm family desperation at the inability to plan for and earn a living. It’s no fun standing for hours outside a beef factory to make a point that you hope will force change. In other cases where farmers have options, they are standing back.

As I mentioned last week, one of my not-so-near neighbours has filled in the tank under one of his slatted houses so the shed can be put to other uses.

This week, much play is being made of the fact that a party of Chinese officials is visiting Ireland with a view, it is hoped and assumed, to buying more Irish beef

At the same time, farmers’ anger is fuelled by the sight of an industry with a captive supply, accountable to nobody and where it is clear that fortunes on an international scale have been made. This week, much play is being made of the fact that a party of Chinese officials is visiting Ireland with a view, it is hoped and assumed, to buying more Irish beef. They should receive every encouragement possible.

However, the Chinese market has been opened up by the constant visits of Government ministers and Department personnel.

There is only a small group of buyers – there is effectively no live trade except for occasional markets that open spasmodically

Without constant Government lobbying and support, it would not have happened. Yet, there is not a scintilla of evidence that if the Chinese market continues to open more widely that farmers will gain one extra cent. Why should we expect them to? There is only a small group of buyers – there is effectively no live trade except for occasional markets that open spasmodically.

Where a national farm-based industry is so restricted as to where it can sell its output, some form of Government supervision is necessary, especially when the monopoly customers are free to shelter market and profit information from public gaze.

The last time we had a major inquiry into the beef sector was when the long-running beef tribunal sat interminably for three years in Dublin Castle in the early 1990s

This fosters distrust and creates real antagonism between the parties. While the present beef talks struggle to find a short-term end to this impasse, Government and specifically Minister Creed should set up an independent group to study the structure of the Irish beef industry.

The last time we had a major inquiry into the beef sector was when the long-running beef tribunal sat interminably for three years in Dublin Castle in the early 1990s. Enough practices were uncovered at that time to suggest that this is a sector that needs constant monitoring and supervision.

The present talks have been useful but where market returns and profits are totally hidden, while prices to farmers drop in unison and conditions around supply specifications are handed down rather than consulted about, some real regulatory mechanisms need to be in place. Heavy-handed legal threats are not the answer.

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