When he walked out of the Department of Agriculture offices on Kildare Street, Dublin, yesterday morning, the former president of the Irish Farmers' Association, Mr Tom Parlon, looked exhausted and downcast.
His voice was hoarse from 14 hours of negotiations on the fifth floor of the Department, sometimes face-to-face with the captains of the Irish beef industry and sometimes in side conferences with the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh.
"I don't know where to turn. I do not see any prospect of a settlement with the IMA despite all the talk. I think the opportunity is with individual plants now," he said.
He told the waiting media he had failed to get satisfaction from the meat plants. They had not come up with the 90p per lb which he had demanded.
He said the plants had come up with 87p. This included a premium of £15 which the IMA "had concocted" and was unacceptable from the start. Asked where the dispute was going now, he said the talks with the IMA had broken down and the opportunities would now be with individual plants.
"I was hoping that after this marathon I would have been able to offer farmers a deal. Unfortunately, I cannot do that now."
The road to breakdown had started at 5 p.m. on Wednesday when Mr Parlon and his colleague, Mr Raymond O'Malley, former chairman of the organisation's beef committee, arrived for the talks in the company of Mr Michael Berkery, general secretary of the IFA, and Mr Kevin Kinsella, the organisation's beef expert.
Mr Parlon said he was no longer IFA president but was looking for a solution to the problem, which could be solved if factories paid farmers 90p for "O" grade, the most common type of beef animal sold here.
He was confident the matter could be resolved, as was the Irish Meat Association when it arrived about 90 minutes after the farmers.
It was nearly 1 a.m. when the media, which had camped in the lobby of Agriculture House, heard that face-to-face negotiations had begun.
The IMA had made an offer to pay 86p per lb for ordinary "O" grade animals, 88p for higher grade steers and 94p for top grade animals, an average of 90p over the three grades. The IFA rejected this as the percentage of "O" grade animals is nearly 50 per cent of the beef herd.
At around 4 a.m., the Department's information officer said he was less sure a settlement would be reached.
Shortly before 5 a.m., Mr Berkery paid a visit to the lobby. He indicated the talks were getting to the main issue, the 90p per lb. However, he was not sure how they would go.
Shortly before 7.30 a.m. it was learned that the talks had failed.
Mr Parlon was the first to leave shortly before 8 a.m. He was followed by Mr Walsh, who had chaired over 30 hours of talks since Friday evening.
Mr Walsh said very considerable progress had been made. The final offer made by the processors was the equivalent of 87.5p and there was a framework put in place for negotiations at local level for possible advances on that price.
Asked if this was a fair offer, he said there was considerable progress when the offer was increased from 82p to 87.5p. With local bargaining, he was hopeful a resolution could be achieved.
Asked if he would advise farmers to stop barricading factories, Mr Walsh said he would not make any comment because that matter was in the courts.
He said he would remain available to all sides to help find a solution. Structures had been put in place by the Government on monitoring price transparency. The talks had been brought as far as possible at central level. Some factories were reported to be prepared to pay 90p.
Mr Tom McAndrew, chairman of the Irish Meat Association, said the offer had been made on the basis of negotiations at local level based on market returns. It was based on something meat plants could live with.
"All we can pay is what is returned from the marketplace and the offer we have made is very generous. It also included a special winter feeder premium of £15.
"This showed we were trying to make a gesture to get things started, to show some initiative and show some imagination. That price of 90p per lb is not there for ordinary cattle and we have to say that.
"The factories want the blockade lifted so they can start buying cattle. We were here all night trying to buy imaginary cattle on Kildare Street. We put constructive proposals together. The IFA began on Friday by looking for 90p per lb and they are still talking about 90p."