THE FARMERS Protestin Dublin has entered its second day as farmers slept in their tractors to ensure the continuation of traffic blockades.
Approximately 60 tractors and trailers remain in Dublin city centre, with Kildare Street, Merrion Street Upper, Merrion Square South, St Stephen's Green South and Molesworth Street closed to traffic, according to The Irish Times.
Yesterday, it is estimated that 400 tractors descended on the capital from across the country, with Irish farmers demanding an increase in price for their beef, and to voice criticisms of the deal arranged with the government last year following weeks of demonstrations last summer.
O Connell St #farmersprotest pic.twitter.com/ssxBRatyk2
— 🦩 Shane O’Reilly 🦩 (@mrmojo_jo) January 15, 2020
The current protest follows on from a number of tractor blockades staged in Dublin and at various supermarket distribution centres around the country in December and November last year.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Co Kildare farmer John Dallon said that the protests will continue until the price of beef rises.
“The price of beef at the minute is €3.60 a kilo. If you look at the price of beef in England, we’re about 50 cent behind and across mainland Europe we’re 22 cent behind the average. Why should we continue to be treated the way we’re being treated?” he told the outlet.
100% pure irish beef #farmersprotest pic.twitter.com/1D6n4Ct1nS
— Patsy Tyrrell🇮🇪 (@Tyrrellstown) January 16, 2020
“We feel that we have to come to Dublin as individual farmers to drive the message home. We don’t want to be here, we have a lot of farm work to do, cattle to feed at home. We’re entitled to a livelihood and we’re not getting it.
"We’re not even getting the cost of our production, how are we expected to live?”
Gardaí have warned that they expect there may be "increased protest activity" today and have advised commuters to plan their journey accordingly or use public transport if posssible.
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