Meat plant task force
Deputy McGrath complained that the promised task force on the meat plant dispute had not yet been populated and wanted an independent chair. The Minister of State said nominations had been sought and that details of the chair would follow.
I want to ask the Tánaiste and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, a question. As the Tánaiste knows, farmers and their families spent eight weeks outside the meat plants. An agreement was reached somewhere in Kildare whereby the Minister would set up a task force. What is the delay? That was a month ago and the task force has not been populated yet. Above all, we need an independent chairman there also to ensure that task force has teeth. We do not need all the usual suspects on it. I want to know when the task force will be populated. I also want to know about the injunctions that were promised to be lifted from all those affected when the last protesters left the plants. Why are there still injunctions in place against two men in a Longford plant, one of whom is a Fine Gael councillor? What is going on? The task force needs to be convened immediately and some bit of interest needs to be shown in the farmers of rural Ireland.