THE Minister for Agriculture has warned meat renderers that there will be no more support from the Exchequer after Tuesday.
Mr Yates gave his clearest signal yet that the £2.5 million given by the Government six weeks ago to get the industry over the crisis caused by the British BSE problem was the only support the industry would receive. He regretted that a number of meetings with the renderers had not found a commercial solution to the disposal of offal from factories.
The taxpayer's head would not be placed in a noose, he said. The worst of the crisis was now and the backlog of animals had been cleared. There was a crisis at Easter, but since then 175,000 cattle had been slaughtered intervention had been opened up.
Following the outbreak of BSE, aid was given to the rendering industry in order to avert the closure of slaughtering plants due to non disposal of offal. There is now a fear that the threat again hang over the industry solution cannot be found the Exchequer finance runs out next week.
Yesterday, the Federation of Irish Renderers met other members of the meat industry in order to find a commercial solution. According to a statement, the meeting will continue next week. The renderers say that if they are to continue to operate, meat factory owners must pay for the removal of offal from their premises.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on Agriculture, Mr Brian Cowen, criticised the Minister for "preaching" at the industry, when Mr Yates had "absolutely refused to go out into the market place and personally pitch sales for Irish beef."
Mr Cowen said that since Easter there had been only three meetings of the interested parties in the rendering industry. "What is the Minister's `plan B' for the rendering industry when the subsidy expires on Tuesday? It seems that the Minister's `plan B' will be a blank sheet of paper."