McDonald’s is planning to re-open some restaurants in Ireland next week.
The announcement has been welcomed by IFA president, Tim Cullinan, who said that “beef farmers will be glad to see it re-opening” and hope and need to see a price increase.
“McDonald’s is a major purchaser of Irish beef, spending €160m on 40,000 tonnes each year, and €200m in the economy in total through their 130 restaurants.”
“We had a conference call with McDonald’s yesterday where they briefed us on their plans,” he said.
“McDonald’s is an iconic global brand and the fact they buy so much is recognition of the quality beef produced from our grass-based production system,” he said.
Hit the Irish beef sector ‘hard’
IFA national livestock chairman, Brendan Golden, said that the closing of restaurants across Europe has had a big impact on Irish farmers.
“The closure of the foodservice sector across Europe has hit the Irish beef sector hard and farmers are incurring huge losses. The sooner the sector can re-open fully, the better,” he said.
