Beef industry to carry some costs for BSE testing and disposal
The provision in the department’s estimates followed a report by a Government-appointed committee highlighting areas where there is potential for spending cutbacks and opportunities for generating new revenues.
A number of the recommendations made by former Central Bank governor, Maurice O’Connell, former secretary general of the Department of Enterprise and Employment Kevin Bonner, and former Revenue Commissioners chairman, Dermot Quigley were embraced by the Government.
The committee emphasised the need for further action to reduce the level of subsidisation of BSE measures and also questioned the long-term effectiveness of continued support for the bovine TB testing initiatives.
It is understood that the rendering and storage of 150,000 tonnes of meat and bone meal as part of the BSE measures has already cost €50m.
Essentially, the industry will be responsible for the processing, transport, handling, storage and incineration of rendered material. The scheme will initially operate for three months.
Meanwhile, Ireland is heading for a record number of BSE cases this year. The total for the year to date is 313. There were 242 cases in all of last year out of a national herd of 7.5 million.
But the department said the increasing age profile of animals infected is a positive indication that additional controls introduced in 1996 and 1997 are having the desired effect and that the incidence of BSE will decline as older animals leave the system.
Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh told the Dail there was increasing evidence that the time, effort and money put into protecting consumers of Irish beef at home and abroad are now paying dividends. But there was still a need for vigilance.
