PERHAPS the Irish Cattle, Traders' and Stockowners Association (ICSA) which represents Ireland's beef farmers best summed up the mood of their industry yesterday in a press release headed, "ICSA Condemns Ivan's Terrible Russian Campaign".

The decision by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, to allow the Russians dictate from what counties they would accept beef, has caused fury in counties Cork, Monaghan and Tipperary and in the farming community as a whole.

And it has created a problem for Mr Yates's own party. Monaghan is strongly Fine Gael, Cork has its solid seats and the importance of Tipperary to it was made clear by the presence of Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Lowry, on an urgent delegation to the Russian ambassador yesterday.

In addition, the exporters who have been supplying the markets, are equally upset over the move which they fear will have a knock, on effect in the international markets where competition is fierce.

BUT in the isolation of his Kildare Street office yesterday, Mr Yates was unrepentant about what he was forced to do last Friday evening before a top level veterinary delegation from Moscow left for home.

"The gun was held to my head and I had to decide whether I wanted no contract at all or one we could fill with the minimum of disruption. I was between a rock and a hard place, he said.

He said the hard decision had to be made against the background of a total ban on all Irish beef to Russia, a market which was worth £300 million last year and will be equally as important this year.

That pressure began earlier this summer when the number of BSE cases in the national herd began to increase sharply by early July. By the 17th of that month vets had discovered more cases than in the previous year, 16.

August and September continued to deliver an increasing number of sick cows and by yesterday, when two further cases were announced the total had risen to 38 so far this year and 153 altogether since the first case here in January 1989.

The Russians, who had placed their own veterinary inspection team in Ireland, became increasingly concerned about the new cases but the industry seemed to think they were attempting to talk down the price rather than anything else.

On a number of occasions it was publicly stated that one of the dangers of having large amounts of Irish beef in EU intervention by the end of this year was that the Russians could buy it at much lower cost than they had been paying during the spring and summer.

That appears to have been a miscalculation because by early this month the Russian authorities, who were experiencing domestic difficulties with the illness of their President, were prepared to cancel the contract.

Involved in the discussions with the Department were the Russian Minister for Agriculture. Mr Khlystun and the Mayor of Moscow, Mr Lurhkoz and a team of officials. By early this month they said they could not take Irish beef under current conditions.

At stake was the new contract worth £130 million with the Russians who had spent over £280 million in the previous year on steer beef. The French, the Australians" and New Zealanders were also in the race.

Yesterday Mr Yates blamed the French for creating the precedent of regionalisation.

The French have a limited number of BSE cases confined mainly to one dairy region. They offered the Russians beef from the rest of the country and promised to exclude the areas where BSE has occurred.

"The French had set the precedent and we had no option but to follow. I had to decide whether or not we were out of the market altogether or we were in there with a ban on three counties which would be reviewed on a basis," he said.

He said he had five minutes to make the yes or no decision last Friday evening before the delegation left for Moscow. He decided to accept the Russian protocol.

MR YATES said he had not informed the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton of his decision to accept the Russian deal but Mr Bruton, he said, was kept fully informed of what was going on and had written to the Russian authorities earlier in the month.

"I made the right but hard decision and I will have to live with it. In a few weeks things will have settled down and people will be glad I did what I did," he said.

"The Russian decision runs contrary to the veterinary opinion here. However, buying our beef and those are the conditions they wanted," he said.

"The alternative would have been chaos in the market with total reliance on EU intervention at prices of 5p per lb less than today," he said.

But will other customers not attempt do the same thing and widen the scope of the ban? Mr Yates was emphatic they would not. He said he had refused to sign a protocol demanded by an Iranian delegation which would have excluded nearly half the Republic.

He did, however, have some good news. Saudi Arabia, he said, had agreed after a break of nearly nine months to buy 50,000 tonnes of Irish beef and to lift its embargo on dairy products.