The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, was asked by the Competition Authority to clarify his role in yesterday's summit meeting of the beef industry, it emerged last night.
A spokesman for the Minister said Mr Walsh had received a letter seeking the clarification on Thursday last from the authority and had replied before yesterday's meeting.
In his reply, Mr Walsh said he was fully supportive of the Competition Authority and that his role was to chair the discussions.
The spokesman said Mr Walsh had told the authority that the meeting would not deal with anything which would be in breach of the Competition Act.
The spokesman said Mr Walsh had gone on to say that the meeting had been called to discuss a future strategy and outlook for the beef industry.
The meeting had been called by Mr Walsh at the end of the last dispute between the processors and the farmers, which had seen factory closures forced by Irish Farmers' Association protests at plants in October and November.
During the last protracted dispute two years ago, the industry was shut down for nearly a month by an IFA blockade, which ended only when the organisation was fined over £500,000 and had its offices raided by the Competition Authority.
The Minister, who had refused to intervene in the dispute, had called for greater co-operation between both sides and said the future could only be built on trust from both sides.
There was little evidence of that trust before the two-hour meeting yesterday, with the farm organisations going to the table demanding higher prices for their cattle.
The IFA president, Mr John Dillon, said the key to trust was a proper price for cattle and the industry must lift from the bottom of the EU price league towards the EU average price of €2.82/kg.
Mr Pat O' Rourke, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association, said an additional €120 million would be generated on male cattle alone if the Irish beef industry was to increasingly focus on higher price markets throughout Europe. He said farmers were angry at the low prices they were being paid.
However, Mr John Smith of the Irish Meat Association, representing the factories, said the returns from the international markets would continue to determine the price farmers received.
He complained that processing costs had increased by €150 to €160 a head since 1995. He also said EU labelling was hindering marketing progress and that more work had to be done to reactivate markets such as Egypt.
He added that the grading of cattle in Ireland was poor compared to the rest of Europe and farmers should be rewarded for producing top-quality animals which were market ready before 30 months.
The meeting was opened by Mr Michael Duffy, chief executive of the Irish Food Board, who outlined a five-year strategy for the industry.