A steering group to prepare a strategy plan for the Pig Industry is to be established by the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Mr Ned O'Keeffe.
Mr O' Keeffe, a prominent pig farmer in Co Cork who is to chair the steering group, said it was at least 12 years since the last national plan for the industry and a new one was needed.
He said a new approach was required to equip and structure the industry's future development. The committee said will have representatives from across the entire industry.
He said the State agencies, producers, processors/curers, feed compounders and farm organisations will be represented on the committee.
The pigmeat industry is valued at £264 million annually and is the second most valuable sector in the meat industry. However, it has been under increasing pressure due to increased pig numbers in North America and Europe.
This has been coupled with a decline in demand from the Asian market because of the recession there, has compounded the problems.
A report warning of the dangers of storing nuclear waste at Sellafield has been given to a number of cross-party TDs at Leinster House.
The author of the report, Dr Gordon Thompson, of the Institute for Resource and Security Studies in Massachusetts, told a small number of TDs the Minister of State for Public Enterprise, Mr Joe Jacob, last night of what he said was associated with keeping high levels of waste at the Combrian plant.
Following the meeting, which was also attended by Mr Tom O'Flaherty, chief executive of the Radiation Protection Institute of Ireland, Dr Thompson was "scathing" at the lack of information emanating from BNFL . The level of openness did not compare in Britain to that in the US in relation to probable risk assessments, he said.