Farmers who held a protest march to the Tralee Beef and Lamb plant yesterday in Kerry demanded that potential purchasers of the plant should pay part-compensation to farmers who lost money when the plant closed.
The president of the Irish Farmers' Association, Mr John Dillon, said potential buyers should abandon their plans and walk away if they were not prepared to make a substantial contribution to resolve the issue of €3.5 million owed to farmers.
He told the protest rally, which was also attended by Sinn Féin's Mr Martin McGuinness, that without a satisfactory resolution to the farmer creditor issue, there would be no goodwill or cattle supplied to a re-opened plant.
Up to 300 farmers, mainly small operators, are owed €3.5 million since the collapse of the Tralee Beef and Lamb factory in October last year. There were reports in recent weeks that the plant was to be purchased by a group of businessmen from the Waterville area of Co Kerry, but this has not been confirmed.
Mr Dillon said many of the farmers involved in the collapse were facing financial ruin and the matter had become a major political issue in the marginal North Kerry constituency. He said the farmers' money had been used to pay others, including some banks. He said this was an injustice and must be corrected.