All New Zealand lamb was withdrawn yesterday from the Iceland chain of frozen food stores in the Republic following the forcible removal of the lamb from the Dun Laoghaire branch of the store yesterday by Irish sheep farmers.
The company said it would remove the product from its eight stores in the Republic pending talks tomorrow between its management and the Irish Farmers' Association, which had organised yesterday's protest.
About 25 sheep farmers, led by the IFA president, Mr Tom Parlon, walked into the George's Street, Dun Laoghaire, branch at 11.30 a.m. and emptied all the New Zealand lamb on display into two shopping trolleys and wheeled them out into the street.
The store manager, Mr Barry Phillips, protested to the farmers, who refused to pay for the product or allow it back into the store. He called gardai. Mr Frank Corcoran, the chairman of IFA's national sheep committee, told Mr Phillips that New Zealand lamb was undercutting the Irish product and was putting Irish farmers out of business.
There was a standoff between Mr Phillips and the farmers until the arrival of gardai, when Sgt Michael O'Reilly called both sides into the store to negotiate.
While the negotiations continued inside the store, the IFA members mounted a picket on the store, closely monitored by additional gardai. Sgt O'Reilly said he was reluctant to arrest anyone for either theft or damage to goods despite the fact that the protesters refused to move the lamb out of the sunshine.
Nearly two hours after the protest began, Mr Parlon came from the store to claim a victory for the protesters.
He said the management had agreed to meet him tomorrow to discuss the situation and would not sell New Zealand lamb in the intervening period.
Mr Parlon, who said the importation of 226,000 tonnes of lamb into the EU from New Zealand was endangering the future of Ireland's 45,000 sheep farmers, warned other outlets that they might also receive a visit from IFA.
He warned other supermarkets, hotels and restaurants that farmers had taken enough and would take direct action.
He rejected any suggestion that the IFA had used bully-boy tactics to achieve its aim.
Following the protest, the lamb was taken back into the shop by staff.