The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh complained yesterday that he had made "a dishcloth" out of himself to get concessions in Brussels for the Irish beef industry and that now those benefits are not being passed back to the producer.

He told the Irish Co-operative Organisation's National Conference that although he had sought and got special intervention for the industry, the beef factories had only applied for a tender of 4,000 tonnes. They could have applied for 6,000 tonnes.

He said that despite increases in export refunds and an increase in the processors' margin worth, the prices being paid to farmer had not increased as they should. This was a source of great disappointment to him.

Mr Walsh said he would have thought that at least the farmer-controlled co-ops would have increased the prices being paid to the producer and invested in the industry at this crucial time.

"Consumers are also asking why the price they are paying for their meat bears no relationship to the prices being paid to farmers and rightly so," he said.

He said that he did not have any role in this area but was awaiting with interest the outcome of a meeting to be held this week between the retailers and Mr Tom Kitt, the Minister of State for Enterprise and Employment.

His predecessor, Mr Yates, he said, had asked the Competition Authority to examine the area of price fixing in the industry and he was unaware of how that inquiry was progressing.

He told a press conference that he expected a blueprint for the beef industry to be prepared and ready for implementation by January 1st next.

He said that he will be issuing invitations to a number of bodies to take part in a special Task Force to draw up this blueprint next week and the various organisations will be represented by their chairpersons and chief executives.

"There is an opportunity now to streamline and make the industry as efficient as we can to meet the challenges of the new Millennium and the reform of the CAP," he said.

Mr Walsh said it was clear from other reports that there was overcapacity in the processing side of the beef industry and he would like to see it streamlined like the pig processing sector where the number of factories had been reduced from well over 20 to a small number of state-of-the-art factories with export licences.

Ms Mary Minch, Director of Livestock Products in the Agriculture Sector, DGV1, in Brussels, said she too was surprised at the low tender for special intervention submitted by Irish beef factories.

She said it was EU Commission policy to help all sectors of the industry when it put such special supports into place. She said Brussels was attempting to help as best it could.

The ICOS president, Mr Michael O' Dwyer, told the 210 delegates at the conference that there was now a need for a co-ordinated marketing agency for Irish beef.

"Bord Bia is responsible for promotion only and while it is doing excellent work, the industry needs the sort of co-ordinated marketing that the dairy industry has with the Irish dairy board."