Hundreds of Welsh farmers were gathering at the port of Fishguard early this morning. Police were preparing for more militant protests against Irish beef imports, according to PA reports.
The Government yesterday expressed its "disappointment" to the British authorities over the action of the farmers who dumped a lorry-load of Irish beef into the sea off Holyhead early yesterday.
The beef, which came from a meat plant owned by Mr Larry Goodman, was on its way to the Tesco supermarket chain. It was valued at £100,000.
Farmers were gathering this morning at Fishguard and Pembroke ports after meetings in surrounding areas. A spokesman for the port of Fishguard said about 200 farmers gathered. "They are not blockading the port, they are talking to the ferry companies. They want the lorries on the next ferry to be turned back, but there is no trouble at the moment," he said.
Mr Bob Parry, the leader of the Farmers Union of Wales, wrote to the presidents of the National Farmers Union in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland urging their support for an immediate meeting with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to discuss the beef industry.
Earlier yesterday he said unless the British government provided compensation for Welsh farmers' losses caused by the strong British currency, farmers would "take the law into their own hands again".
The strength of the British currency has meant cheaper imports, particularly in Wales, where farmers have suffered sustained losses as a result of the plummeting cost of beef following the BSE crisis.
Despite the scenes at Holyhead, the Government appears to have adopted a conciliatory tone, bolstered by the condemnation of the farmers' action by the Welsh Secretary, Mr Ron Davies.
The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, said he understood the origin of the dispute was the Welsh farmers' dissatisfaction with the price of their goods, but this did not provide a reason for targeting Irish goods.
Officials at the Irish Embassy in London have contacted the Welsh Office, farmers' representatives and the police to express the Government's concern. Downing Street also moved to condemn the farmers. Mr Blair's spokesma n said the prime minister did not believe their action "helps the case they are trying to put".
A spokesman for Stena Line Ferries, when asked to comment on the treatment of the Irish truckers, said: "The dispute was quite orderly. The Irish lorry had disembarked but when Stena officials met with the leaders of the protest, they said they would let the tourist traffic through provided they could question the lorrydrivers as they went back to the ferry. They stopped the Irish driver and surrounded the lorry and the cargo was taken off."
Mr Parry said he would appeal to the Welsh Secretary later this week "for a level playing-field, not more than anyone else. Other member-states have paid compensation to farmers but we have not had the same token shown to us."
While not supporting the action of the farmers at Holyhead, Mr Parry said his members were also worried by the costs being passed on to them when the British government winds down its financial support of abattoirs next year. However, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Jack Cunningham, yesterday rejected calls for him to pro vide compensation to the farmers.
"The idea, the suggestion, the inference that somehow there is a cheque waiting in Brussels that I can go and bring back to British farmers cost-free is simply not the case," he said.
Mr John Donnelly, president of the Irish Farmers Association, condemned the action of the Welsh farmers as unwarranted and counter-productive.
The farmers began their protest on Sunday after a meeting to discuss imports on the eve of the publication of the British government's farm incomes figures.