A farm leader yesterday demanded tighter scrutiny of sheep imports from Northern Ireland and claimed these imports are being used by factories to depress prices.
Mr Laurence Fallon, chairman of the Irish Farmers' Association's sheep committee, estimated that 700,000 to 800,000 lambs come South annually. "Already sheep slaughtering at the export meat plants are up 225,000 head to date this year and imports are continuing to cross the Border while prices continue to fall here," he said.
"There are suggestions from farmers and people involved within the trade that the very strict regulations put in place in 2001 are not being implemented as strictly as they used to," he said.
He added that lamb producers in the State were worried about the imports at a time when the prices being paid to them had fallen below €3.64/kg (130p/lb), close to a price which was unviable.
Farmers, he said, could not produce lamb at this time of year for €3.36/kg, (120p/lb), a price that was being suggested to farmers by the factories.
"The factories are going the right way about it to drive sheep farmers out of the business because now we have the freedom to farm we will not produce lambs at a loss," he said.
"Perhaps they plan to bring in all their supplies from Northern Ireland because we believe they have been using Northern supplies to depress prices here," he said.
"Any farmer will tell you that the factories are very well supplied with lamb on a Monday morning which allows them to dictate prices for most of the week," he said.
He added that none of the 35,000 sheep farmers in the State objected to the EU treating Ireland as one trading area for sheep. "What we want to see is that the regulations that were put in place after the foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001 which was caused by such imports, are fully implemented," he said.
These involved close monitoring of the imports into the State of loads of sheep which had already had veterinary clearance from officials in Northern Ireland. He said the regulations specified that the sheep had to go straight for slaughter and could only be held for limited specified periods before slaughter.
The Department of Agriculture and Food said last night that sheep coming from the North had to be sent directly to slaugtherhouses and slaughtered within 72 hours.
There was provision for sheep with proper certification to be held in a transit assembly area in the State but they had to move from there within five days of arrival and go directly for slaughter to the factory. A Department spokesman said that in practice, this provision was not availed of and that all imported animals had to be moved in accordance with the strict regulations laid down by the Department.
The single case of foot-and- mouth disease found in the Republic in March 2001 was transmitted in sheep smuggled into the Republic from Northern Ireland through Britain.