The European Commission has slammed allegations by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) that it suppressed a veterinary report on Foot and Mouth food safety controls in Brazil.
In a statement this afternoon, the Commission said the report would be published in the coming weeks after 'following normal procedure whereby comments are sought from the various parties involved.'
John Bryan, IFA
It said it regretted the 'invasion' of its public information centre by members of the IFA.
Up to 40 members of the IFA remain protesting at the Commission's offices in Dublin demanding the release of a report on Brazilian beef.
The members staged an overnight sit-in and were joined by up to 200 more farmers at midday.
Speaking at the protest IFA President Padraig Walshe accused the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs Markos Kyprianou of blatantly suppressing a critical EU veterinary report on Foot and Mouth and food safety controls in Brazil.
He said the report from the EU veterinary inspectors who visited Brazil last March had been deliberately concealed.
"Seven months have elapsed since the visit - it is farcical that the report would be sent to Brazil first in order that they could make amendments, and European consumers and producers would be denied the opportunity to see it," he said.
He added that the denial of access to the report was a flagrant breach of Article 42 of the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union, which states that 'any citizen of the Union… has a right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents'.
The IFA called on EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou to release it or threatened that the sit-in — monitored by a small Garda contingent - would continue indefinitely.
John Bryan, IFA Livestock Chairman, said: "At this stage the six months delay by Commissioner Kyprianou undermines the credibility of the report and public confidence in the process."
A second EU delegation is to return to Brazil next week and the IFA has written to the Commissioner to allow an IFA independent veterinarian to attend.
The IFA previously called for a ban on the import into Europe of Brazilian beef because of the standard of meat production in the country and the widespread presence of foot-and-mouth disease.
"The facts are foot-and-mouth disease is endemic in Brazil," Mr Bryan said. "The failure of Brazil to meet European standards has been well documented."