The Minister for Agriculture is urging all parties in the beef dispute to get back around the negotiating table.

It comes after it was confirmed that court injunctions against two farmers over protests in September were dropped.

C&D Foods in County Longford launched the court action against Fine Gael Councillor Pauric Brady and local carpenter Colm Leonard after protesters blockaded its Edgeworthstown facility.

The petfood company temporarily laid off 187 of its employees during the blockade.

The court injunctions had caused a lot of anger among the protesting farmers and a number of those who used their tractors to block off Dublin streets this week had called for them to be dropped.

Reconvening the Beef Market Taskforce and implementing the beef sector agreement is my priority. A significant impediment has now been removed which is welcome. All parties must now engage with the Independent Chairman and get back to the table immediately

— Michael Creed TD (@creedcnw) November 28, 2019

This afternoon, the Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said work could now begin on resolving the ongoing dispute.

“Reconvening the Beef Market Taskforce and implementing the beef sector agreement is my priority,” he said.

“A significant impediment has now been removed which is welcome.

“All parties must now engage with the Independent Chairman and get back to the table immediately.”

The Beef Plan Movement had previously warned that it would not engage with the new Beef Market Taskforce while the injunctions were in place.

This afternoon, spokesperson Dermot O'Brien told Newstalk that the group is now ready to meet as early as tomorrow.

“We want it to convene straight away,” he said. “We are waiting a long time – we are waiting now over six or seven weeks for this to kick off.

“We want it to kick off straight away because the beef farmers in this country are under a lot of pressure. They are not in receipt of a fair price for their product.”

He said the price paid to farmers for their produce remains the biggest issue they face and insisted it has to “start moving upwards.”

“The Beef price index indicates that farmers here are not being treated as they should be treated and meat processors now have questions to answer in this regard,” he said.

He claimed this week’s protest in Dublin had “created further awareness” among consumers regarding the price dispute.

In a statement, C&D Foods said it had decided to apply for the injunctions to be struck out after meetings with Minister Creed and the Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan.

The company said Minister Flanagan had assured it that State authorities would “act to protect our employees, our business and uphold the rule of law.”