A prolonged French ban on road freight from Britain could force Irish meat plants to reduce processing and affect their purchase of livestock from farmers, an industry group has warned.

France was one of 40 countries to ban travel to and from the UK to stop the spread of a new strain of coronavirus which may be more infectious and has put parts of England under the UK's hardest lockdown.

The French government's ban until Tuesday includes accompanied lorry freight travelling through Britain, blocking the major transit artery for Irish hauliers to important markets in Europe.

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Cormac Healy, director of Meat Industry Ireland, said if there was "no clarity or improvement" soon at an EU level on restoring the flow of time-sensitive fresh and chilled meat exports through Britain to Europe, meat processors could be forced to reduce production.

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“It could start to mean their ability to process at this side will be impacted,” he said, adding that a knock-on effect of this would lead to farmers due to sell livestock being affected in the short term.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan spoke to his French counterpart, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, on Monday night about Irish transport companies being caught up in the French ban.

France’s ambassador to Ireland, Vincent Guérend, said the French government was reviewing the ban but that no exceptions could be made for any cargo or lorry drivers of any nationality.

Emergency meeting

EU member states held an emergency meeting to co-ordinate a joint approach on travel to and from the UK. France has called for a joint EU policy on travel flows with the UK to be put in place, including “very strict” rules for travellers, an official said, including mandatory Covid-19 tests.

Member states have asked the EU Commission to draw up guidelines, and ambassadors will meet on Tuesday to try to thrash out a plan, including what categories of people should be allowed to travel.The Irish Government is today set to extend the ban on UK passengers until December 31st.

Health officials from the 27 EU member states are co-ordinating to evaluate evidence on the new strain. The variant has been detected in Denmark, the Netherlands, Gibraltar and Italy.

British prime minister Boris Johnson on Monday said he hoped freight movements across the English Channel would soon return to normal after he discussed the ban with French president Emmanuel Macron.

The travel ban has coincided with record freight flows as a result of pre-Brexit stockpiling before new border controls come into effect on January 1st and the busy Christmas trade.

“Everything we prepared for with Brexit happened with three hours’ notice on two of the busiest freight days in the calendar,” said one Government source.