Additional costs such as the blast-freezing and storage of specified risk materials (SRM) arising from the EU slaughter-for-destruct scheme could push up the bill to £140 million, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Mr Walsh, said yesterday.
At the a.g.m. of the Irish Farmers' Association in Dublin, Mr Walsh said that despite the difficulties in rendering the risk material, the scheme was continuing yesterday.
The Department said that during the day 2,245 animals had been slaughtered and destroyed, and the Minister said the SRM had been blast-frozen and stored until it could be processed by the Monery plant in Co Cavan.
The plant said on Monday it could not accept any more SRM this week because of an overload in capacity and it would probably be able to accept more SRM from plants next week.
Mr Walsh said the licensing of two additional plants by the Environmental Protection Agency would have to go through due process and it would be at least six weeks before a second plant could come into operation.
"The storage of this material will put up the costs involved and we feel they will run anywhere from £120 million to £140 million," Mr Walsh said.
On the commercial side, factories had slaughtered and tested 17,500 animals over 30 months old since January 2nd, and all of these animals had been found clear of BSE.
Earlier Mr Tom Parlon, president of the Irish Farmers' Association, estimated that farmers would probably have to destroy 12,000 to 15,000 animals a week in the scheme to prevent a build-up of beef stocks.
He said he would make no apology for saying the exchequer had the responsibility and the resources to meet whatever costs were required to solve the BSE issue.
Farmers had contributed substantially to achieving today's prosperous Irish economy and agriculture and food had provided the export earnings necessary for economic growth, long before the multinationals came to invest here.
"Whether the cost is £100 million or £200 million, it will have a relatively small impact on the State's finances, but it is vital for the 100,000 farm families involved in livestock production," he said.
Last night the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, told farmers the destruct scheme was going to be expensive, but it was something that had to be done to secure the future.
He said the Government would be starting a fresh initiative to regain access to traditionally important beef markets worldwide, and arrangements were under way for visits by technical experts to the Middle East.