The Irish Farmers' Association has invited the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, and representatives of meat processing factories to a public meeting of beef farmers to discuss falling cattle prices. The meeting will be held in Abbeyleix, Co Laois, on Monday night.
Mr Derek Deane, chairman of IFA's national livestock committee, said the price situation was critical, with prices down 10p per lb, or £70 per head, in the last three weeks.
"The situation is so serious that livestock farmers' incomes will be devastated unless immediate action is taken to restore confidence," said Mr Deane, who called on the Minister to deliver on his June promise that cattle prices would be stabilised this autumn.
"The political responsibility to restore prices rests squarely on his shoulders," he said.
Mr Deane said the Minister would have to deliver on reopening vital markets or emergency intervention support. He was highly critical of the beef factories and urged farmers to hold out against the factories' attempts to pull the prices below 80p per lb. He said the factories had forced the price down by 10p in the last three weeks.
"Despite the panic factories are trying to create, prices in the UK remain very steady at £1 per lb and supplies at the meat plants are tight. There is now a massive gap of up to £150 per head between cattle prices in Ireland and the UK," said Mr Deane.