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The starting point for the Beef Taskforce has to be – had better be – increasing the returns to the farmers producing the beef on which the whole sector stands, according to ICMSA president Pat McCormack.
“What that means is that we do not want to hear about opening swanky new offices in far-flung destinations or chat about yet another quality assurance scheme or ‘elite’ class of beef that will, we will be told, benefits the whole sector and ‘ trickles-back’ to the farmers,” Mr McCormack insisted. “What we have to have as the starting point is what will give better prices to the farmers and then work backwards from that. We have to start with better prices for the farmers and then let the consequences of that ‘ trickle-back’ to the rest of the supply chain.”
His comments came as Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed announced that a chairperson has been appointed to lead the Government’s Beef Market Taskforce - agreed at talks on the future of the beef industry last month. Mr Creed has appointed Michael Dowling as independent chair of the taskforce. Mr Dowling is a former secretary general at the Department of Agriculture and chaired talks on the beef dispute in August.
The ICMSA president also insisted that “if anyone or any party is going try and run this Taskforce up the kind of dead-ends that was the unfortunate destination of the Beef Forum then that has to be called-out, stopped and swiftly corrected”.
“We’re either in earnest about this or we’re wasting everyone’s time,” he said. “ICMSA’s feeling is that we wasted the five years since the Beef Forum undertook to review the Grid and specs and then absolutely nothing happened. We had endless prevarication on that occasions and everyone – and specifically I mean MII – has to understand that this Taskforce had better not be turned into a ‘ Talking Shop’.
“If we feel that there is an attempt to do that and run the debate up ‘ blind allies’ then we won’t be as patient as we were previously.”
He added that the taskforce also has to have the live exporters present and contributing. He said “they’re part of the equation and they have to be part of the solution”.
“Unless we go into this process with those three understandings ‘front and centre’ then I fear that the underlying problems will be ignored again and I suspect that patience has worn thin – in fact, I’m certain it has”, said Mr McCormack.
Minister Creed told the Dáil last week that membership of the taskforce will include representatives from the Department of Agriculture, relevant State agencies, farm organisations and the meat industry.
It is understood arrangements for the first meeting of the taskforce are currently being finalised.