THE decision to sign the Russian deal excluding Cork, Tipperary and Monaghan farmers from export contacts was a betrayal a leading beef farmer, Mr Declan O'Meara, said yesterday.
Speaking from his farm near Nenagh, Co Tipperary, Mr O'Meara said that in a county with only four reported cases of BSE, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, had caused widespread shock among beef farmers.
"There is a feeling here of outrage. All the calls I have been receiving as a working farmer and an executive of the Irish Farmers' Association have been to discuss the feeling of being badly let down. Why are we being targeted? Tipperary beef now stands a good chance of becoming a second class product as a result of this decision.
"There are 4,000 herd owners in north Tipperary alone. What are they going to do? And the situation in south Tipperary isn't much different. The Minister's response has been out of all proportion to the problem. Farmers Bill meet tomorrow night with public representatives in Tipperary to debate the issue and to make their feelings clear.
"We must have this decision reversed because the precedent now being set means that certain areas of Irish beef farming can be singled out for unfair treatment. The feeling here is that we have a doomsday scenario on our bands."
Farmers were feeling abandoned by the Department of Agriculture, Mr O'Meara said. "Many of the callers to my home are concerned about the mart next week in Thurles and what the reaction is going to be to Tipperary beef. The decision is as important to Tipperary beef farming as the original House of Commons announcement on BSE was to the British beef sector," he said.
In south Cork another beef farmer, Mr Billy Nicholson, said his farming colleagues were going crazy with worry". The fear was, he added, that other countries would follow the Russians in their decision to exclude particular areas of the Irish beef sector and that farmers would be badly affected.
"Our hope is that this is only a temporary measure and that the situation will improve in the near future. In the meantime, we are hoping that other markets, such as Egypt - which favours Irish beef over the Australians' - will take up the slack. The problem is that we just don't know. There is great uncertainty. Farmers do not know where they stand or what to do.
"It should be understood that Cork accounts for one quarter of the total Irish beef population, and the reality is that statistically, while we have had nine cases of BSE last year, the level of infection is probably no higher than any other county. It's too soon to tell what the effect will be.
"It's a case of wait and see, but I can tell you that Cork farmers are just as worried as their counterparts in Tipperary", Mr Nicholson added.