The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has said that Irish Sugar bears ‘full responsibility’ for proposals to close their sugar processing plants in Carlow and Mallow, Co Cork.
Irish Sugar today announced that it is preparing to close down the factories as a result of a dispute with farmers over beet prices.
A spokesman for the IFA told ireland.comthat they have been seeking negotiations with Irish Sugar on the issue of price for the last ten months and that there has been no formal contact about the proposed shutdown.
The Irish Farmers' Association has been looking for increases in the price of beet of up to £4.70 per tonne - a price the company has refused to pay.
The company said that the shutdown, which the IFA has said is "unnecessary", would take three days but would not say what was to become of the 650 people employed at the plants.
Irish Sugar has said though that production will not resume without the farmers guaranteeing the supply of beet to the factories.
Ireland’s 4,000 beet farmers have been withholding beet supplies from the sugar factories since Wednesday.
The IFA spokesman said that the farmers’ protests are still in place outside the Carlow factory.
Labour Party TD for Kildare South, Mr Jack Wall has called for the Minister for Agriculture Mr Joe Walsh to initiate talks in the stand-off.
Mr Wall called on the Minister to play the role of 'honest broker' in an effort to resolve the damaging stand-off between Irish Sugar, also known as Greencore, and beet growers.
"Today Greencore has confirmed that it has begun preparations for the shutdown of its processing plants in Carlow and Mallow. Between them the two plants employ 650 people. These workers now face lay-offs in the run up to Christmas. It is a cruel blow," he said.
"At present there is a stand-off between Greencore and beet growers. Yesterday, the Minister urged the two sides to enter new negotiations to break the logjam. However, he must go a step forward and facilitate talks himself.
"The Minister can play the role of 'honest broker' between the two sides and use his good offices to hammer out a resolution that acknowledges the problems faced by beet growers, while ensuring that Greencore can still run a profitable operation. I sincerely believe that the gap between both sides can be bridged," he said.
Saying that the workers are the ‘first casualties’ of the dispute, Mr Wall went on to say that: "The Minister's 'hands-off' approach is not good enough. He has a duty to ensure that this dispute is resolved and that Greencore workers are treated with the priority they deserve".
