The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, has accused the meat factories of not paying farmers enough for their cattle. Cattle prices have plunged to a 20-year low in the past week.
The Minister had summoned the Irish Meat Association, which represents Irish meat processors, to discuss the deterioration in the trade this month.
While he accepted the difficulties facing factories because of the loss of European markets due to BSE and falling export subsidies, Mr Walsh said he believed the factories were paying a "few pence less than the market will return".
He said devaluations of the Green Pound totalling 3.45 per cent, the drop in the value of the pound and the introduction of the winter slaughter premium on January 1st had eased the pressure on factories.
He said he was seeking a meeting with the EU Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, on the exclusion of plainer-type cattle from intervention, which would exclude 80 per cent of Irish bullocks from intervention.
The secretary of the Department, Mr John Malone, said it was attempting to act as a mediator between the factories and the farmers because relations between the factories and the producers were very poor.
In a statement after the meeting, the Irish Meat Association called for a united approach to solve the crisis facing the industry. It pledged its full support to the Irish Farmers' Association in its efforts to prevent any further fall in cattle prices.
Mr John Smith, the IMA's chief executive, said the IFA, which had threatened to withhold animals from factories if they continued to pay only 80p per lb, had correctly identified the problems.
He urged the Minister to press for a parity premium to the farmers, to help bridge the widening gap between Irish cattle prices and those in other EU states.
Mr Smith said it must be made clear to Europe that Ireland is uniquely dependent on exports.