A "goodwill gesture" by the union involved in the dispute at the meat factories may help to resolve issues which have threatened to close all the plants by the end of this week.
IMPACT, the union representing 300 meat graders who have been refusing to certify beef for EU intervention or export refunds, has said that it will process all beef slaughtered between Thursday of last week and last Tuesday. The concession means that beef worth £3 million can now be moved into and out of EU cold stores here.
However, the union emphasised that its dispute with the Department of Agriculture was continuing. It said that there would be no processing of beef slaughtered from yesterday unless and until the dispute was satisfactorily resolved.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, in an apparent softening of his attitude to the workers, who are seeking extra payments and more staff to cover additional duties, said yesterday that he would welcome talks with the union.
Mr Yates, who said that he had had discussions with the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, suggested that the Government could show some flexibility in overall restructuring of the slaughtering industry within the terms of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work.
He said that he would like to see talks taking place in an atmosphere where there were no impositions on any sector of the agricultural community, which was going through one of its worst crises in 30 years.
The Minister welcomed the steps taken by IMPACT to ease the pressure on the meat factories and said that he was anxious to defuse the situation. He appealed to the graders to take note of the grave imposition they were placing on farmers.
"There is the prospect of talks this week, but I have to say it is very difficult for the Department or the Government to negotiate under this type of duress because of the prevailing difficulties in the beef sector", Mr Yates said. "If there was a resumption of work, building on the processing of meat slaughtered last week, it would provide a better basis on which those talks could be really meaningful and constructive.
Mr Paddy Keating, the national secretary of IMPACT, said that the union's quarrel was not with the Department alone. "We now hope the Minister will sit down with us to resolve the staffing and training situation in the sector once and for all so that no further damage is done to this vital industry", he said.