Cost of pork crisis reduced
The secretary general of the Department of Agriculture and Food, Tom Moran, said the final bill was now expected to be somewhere between €140m and €150m, with €20m of that coming from Europe.
Final claims were still being assessed, he said, so a total had not been arrived at.
“The final outturn will not be in anyway close to that [€200m],” he said.
Mr Moran said all producers who were compensated had to supply details of their insurance policies to ensure they could not double claim.
And, because of the origin of the compensation fund, the expenditure would be subjected to a triple audit from within the department, the Comptroller and Auditor General and the European Union.
Mr Moran said he could not comment on the prospect of recovering funds from those responsible for causing the contamination, as there were ongoing issues to be resolved in the High Court.
And he said all bar one of the markets affected by the crisis had since reopened fully to Irish produce.
China was the only outstanding importer to still have a ban on Irish pig meat.
Mr Moran said Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith was currently in China and he hoped this would help resolve the issue.
