Carcass trimming fines
Deputy Collins says farmers are being short-changed by carcass trimming and asks why factories are not being named after repeated fines. The Tánaiste says the Department will begin naming them in January.
Page 108 of the programme for Government, in the section on agriculture, states: "The priority for agriculture must be to reward farmers for producing quality food." It was recently revealed that factories have been fined 21 times this year for excessive carcass-trimming. This trimming is carried out before carcasses are weighed to calculate payments to the farmer who owns the cattle. Yesterday, farmers from throughout the country, including west Cork, held a sit-in in Agriculture House, and they are asking one question: why will the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine not name the factories which have carried out this illegal practice?
