Councillors in the Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District urged all parties involved in the current beef farmers' protest to get around the table and talk again to find a solution to the impasse.
Cllr Damien Ryan called on Minister Michael Creed to again bring the sides together to see could something be done to end the protests - noting that while he knows the Minister and department cannot get involved in the price of beef and he did bring groups together a few weeks ago - the issues are still outstanding. He added that a resolution would not be sorted out in the courts.
Cllr Ryan was backed by a number of other councillors at the September meeting of the Municipal District, with Cllr John Cribben saying that nobody wanted to see farmers outside the gates of meat processing factories and the only way to resolve the issue was by talks being held. All that farmers wanted was a fair price for their beef.
Cllr John Caulfied added that the costs of production for the farmers were such that they could no longer sustain it - but the government should be looking to see what they could to get the issue sorted; while Cllr Patsy O'Brien suggested that intervention, as used in the past, was something that could maybe be looked at in the short term.
