IT IS our largest and most valuable industry, with exports worth £1.2 billion a year. About 100 000 Irish families are directly involved in producing the raw materials. It is one of the most influential political lobbies in the State. And the beef industry is only part of the much larger and wealthier agribusiness sector.

Traditionally, policy has been producer driven the farmer was the backbone of the country and what was good for him was good for society. What mattered was farm gate prices, rather than quality control.

And because the great bulk of production was for export, the Irish consumer was a barely relevant consideration.

EEC membership and the development of the co operative and dairy sectors began to alter that. But slowly. Farm interests were still paramount. That was evident in the long running bovine tuberculosis eradication scheme.

By 1989, when Barry Desmond raised questions about abuses and fraud within the beef processing industry, he was accused of "national sabotage" by the then Taoiseach, Charles Haughey.

Some things have changed since then. But not many. The official and political mind set is still firmly farmer and processor orientated.

The IFA and the ICMSA regard the Department of Agriculture as no more than a lobbying conduit to the Government and the EU.

And Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are so dependent on the farming vote that only a minimum amount of political disturbance could be contemplated. As one Fianna Fail deputy commented: "We are not in the business of losing votes."

The beef sector is now a shambles. Continental, Middle Eastern and north African consumers have taken fright over mad cow disease.

One official privately described the situation as "the biggest crisis the Irish industry has faced since the economic war of the 1930s."

Forget about Britain's difficulty being Ireland's opportunity. We are desperately trying not to be sucked into the British maelstrom.

If British agriculture collapses and the greater public stops buying red meat products, the knock on effect will be horrendous.

The latest BSE scare is a disaster that has been waiting to happen. For years, there have been rumblings of consumer resistance to intensive farm and production practices the destruction of water quality through excessive fertiliser usage; the unbridled use of antibiotics at farm level; the factory style production of animals and fowl; the illegal/legal application of growth promoters and the use of questionable food additives.

FOR the first time in history, large numbers of people had a choice about what foods they would eat. And a small, but growing, number decided not to choose meat.

When BSE was first identified in Britain in 1986 it evoked the normal official response: it was not a threat to human health; was not directly infectious or hereditary; and would not jump species.

And when the cause of the disease was traced to sheep infected meat and bonemeal in 1988, the practice of feeding animal protein to ruminants, pigs and poultry did not stop.

The Irish response was very different. But it was largely consumer driven.

As major markets in North Africa and the Middle East prohibited the importation of Irish beef and cattle in 1989 and intervention stocks soared, the Government announced a ban on British feed stuffs and a policy of slaughtering all animals in an infected herd.

This rigorous approach helped to control the spread of the disease. And the outcome is seen in an infection rate which is 1,000 times lower than that in Britain and 10 times less than in Northern Ireland.

While feed and animal imports from Britain were banned, political considerations led to the adoption of a less strict regime for Northern Ireland. Cross Border calf sales and sporadic cattle smuggling continued.

And, in 1993, about £8 million worth of "flours, meals and pellets of meat or offals unfit for human consumption" and "preparations of a kind used for animal food" were imported.

This latest health scare has, however, snuffed out such neighbourly understanding. Under pressure from the farmer and processing lobby, and driven by consumer fears, the Government has slapped a ban on all UK beef and beef products; impounded smuggled cattle and sealed the Border to cattle movement.

Last week Bertie Ahern was talking of arrangements being made with Northern Ireland to minimise damage to the beef industry there. But as the full scale of the British sponsored debacle became clear and the threat to the Republic grew, he backed off.

It was, he said, a deeply regrettable situation, but the Border must be sealed to protect the reputation and credibility of our own food industry.

ONLY last month, when the abuse of growth promoters ("angel dust") within the beef industry was hitting the headlines, a special Dail debate was devoted to falling farm incomes because of a reduction in EU export premiums.

There was not a whisper of pro consumer concern from Fianna Fail, and Ivan Yates went out of his way to rubbish reports of widespread hormone abuse.

This was after Peter Dargan, former president of the Irish Veterinary Union, claimed that up to 10 per cent of the state's farmers were illegally dosing their animals with "angel dust".

After denying that abuse was widespread, Mr Yates decided to strengthen the special investigation unit within his Department and authorised more effective testing procedures for chemical residues.

It was the kind of reaction the public has come to expect from a Department which was found by Brussels to have "connived" with beef processors in defrauding the EU before the beef tribunal.

A lack of consumer confidence in the food sector is aggravating the present crisis. In the absence of firm scientific evidence about the properties and transmissibility of BSE, public hysteria has been encouraged by sections of the media.

But that does not mean serious questions on public health issues have not to be addressed.

Significantly, all but one of the 124 animals diagnosed BSE positive in this State since 1989 were cows over four years of age. The exception was an imported breeding bull.

It is, Ivan Yates assures the public, an infection rate of 0.002 per cent and nothing to worry about. But consumers do worry. And any risk, however small, can cause a shift in eating habits.

The beef industry is based on male animals which are slaughtered before they reach the age of three. The incubation period of this new disease in cattle seems to average five or six years. So beef cattle sent to slaughter could be incubating the disease, even if they don't exhibit full blown symptoms.

We don't know. And there appears to be no rush to find out because of the economic damage it might cause.

This uncertainty is a knife at the industry's throat which will not go away. It has to be dealt with.

During last Tuesday's special Dail debate, the Minister for Agriculture identified "the primary source of the problem" as British meat and bonemeal feedstuffs. But there seems to have been some "leakage" of the disease since then.

Since 1992, Irish made meat and bonemeal - which is produced at a much higher temperature - has also been banned as a cattle feed. The same product, however, is still fed to Irish pigs, poultry and fish.

Given that BSE has already jumped species, should the Government not impose new regulations and requirements on this offal rendering industry, if it is to survive at all?