Sheep farmers who shut down the State's processing factories for a week at the end of April in a protest over the prices they were being paid for lamb, have threatened to resume the action.
Farmers will meet in Carlow tonight to discuss the failure of some meat factories to increase the prices they are paying to farmers despite the fact that returns from international markets have improved and lamb is scarce.
The Irish Farmers Association,which has organised the meeting, has invited the meat factories to send representatives to the meeting to defend the prices they have been paying to farmers.
Laurence Fallon, chairman of the organisation's national sheep committee said that while some factories are paying the rates which brought an end to the dispute, some others are trying to reduce their base prices.
Mr Fallon, who is one of the country's best known sheep farmers, said producers should demand €4.40 per kg for spring lamb this week.
Mr Fallon said some of the factories are paying €4.34 per kg, with the most common price at €4.20 per kg. He said that with bonuses, many producers were getting prices between €4.30 and €4.40 per kg.
Mr Fallon said the price in the UK has improved in recent days up to the equivalent of €4.80 per kg. He said Bord Bia report the French price for Irish lamb today at up to the equivalent of €4.60 per kg.
Mr Fallon said some plants were trying to drag down their base quote as low as €4.06 per kg. He said despite the efforts of these factories to hold prices down, with tighter supplies and improved demand, they were having to pay significantly above their low quoted prices.
Meat Industry Ireland, which represents the factories, said they can only pay what the markets return and up until now, returns could not justify a higher price.
Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, reported at the weekend that prices for new season lamb for the past 10 weeks have averaged €5.02 per kg, which was seven cent or 1 per cent lower than the corresponding average in 2004.
"For the week ending May 8th 2005, spring lamb prices were being quoted from €4.75 per kg to €4.20 per kg by mid-week, compared to €4.60 per kg this time last year," said a report in the weekly Market Monitor.
"The decline in new season lamb price in recent weeks can be attributed to the early Easter competition from higher than normal hogget (last year's lamb) supplies in Ireland and the UK and weaker French demand," the report added.
It stated that the prices factories were receiving for lamb skins had declined from €8.50 per piece compared to €1.40 this year, a drop of over €7 per lamb.