ICSA sheep chair Willie Shaw has said sheep farmers are furious at the continued collapse in prices that completely defies the reality of drastically reduced sheep numbers. "This time last year hoggets were making in excess of €9.00/kg, but this week farmers are barely getting €8.00/kg. That is a staggering difference and one that is hard to stomach," he said.

Continuing, Mr Shaw said what makes the situation even more infuriating is that prices should be moving in the opposite direction. "Costs are rising every year due to inflation, so even if prices stood still, farmers would be worse off in real terms. But this situation is far worse than prices standing still. We are seeing a major backward step that simply cannot be justified."

 "What makes this even harder to understand is that farmers in other countries are being paid significantly more. In the UK prices are over €8/kg, in France they are close to €10/kg, and in Spain they are approaching €11/kg. Irish sheep farmers are being left behind, and nobody is explaining why," he said.

 "Sheep throughput was down by around 20% last year, or approximately 600,000 sheep. In any functioning market, that level of reduced supply should be sending prices higher, not seeing them cut. Yet processors continue to defy basic supply and demand logic, with no clear explanation for how prices can fall so sharply when numbers are down."

Concluding, Mr Shaw said these sorts of illogical prices will have serious consequences. "If this situation is allowed to continue, it will only serve to speed up the exit of farmers from the sheep sector. You cannot expect farmers to stay when fairness and economic reality are being ignored."