Dardis warns of "total breakdown" in cattle trade

THERE is a real prospect of a "total breakdown" in the Irish cattle trade next autumn, the Progressive Democrats claimed yesterday in an intense two hour debate in the Seanad on the crisis over mad cow disease.

Mr John Dardis (PD), who raised the issue, said the whole beef sector was riven with uncertainty and farmers might refuse or be unable to buy cattle in the autumn for winter fattening, because they do not know if they will have outlets for their beef or what price they will get.

He stressed that the Government's main priority must be the reopening of markets outside the EU and the provision of adequate compensation for beef producers who have lost out most on the BSE crisis.

"The magnitude of the BSE crisis is such that it has the potential to impact significantly on our prospects for economic growth. The economic welfare of much more than farmers and beef factory workers is at stake.

Earlier, there was criticism of RTE's repeated broadcasting of a cow with BSE staggering across a farmyard. Mr Willie Farrell (FF) said, to some laughter, that RTE should be asked to "put down the damn cow" and show instead herds of healthy Irish cows. Later Mr Sean Byrne (FF) said the showing of the same seven year old clip was shameful and "national sabotage".

The Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, defended the Government's approach and said the Department had reacted quickly to reassure Irish consumers with the establishment of an expert advisory group. In addition, intervention measures had been "extremely successful" in helping to eliminate the backlog of cattle. He pointed out that domestic consumption had returned to 90 per cent of what it had been before the crisis.

Ms Cathy Honan (PD) questioned the credibility of Irish food quality inspection and said that the "green and clean" state of Irish beef was wasted if the food inspection system could not command international respect.

Mr Rory Kiely (FF) said that the Minister's "failure to visit Libya" coincided with the loss of a contract for 140,000 cattle and EU compensation would not cover that.

Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) believed however, that the Minister had "gone out of his way to sell the view of Irish farmers to the Middle East and Europe."

Mr Jim Townsend (Lab) said that steer slaughtering had fallen off significantly. Ireland exports 70 per cent of its cattle and so Irish markets were more sensitive to cuts in EU refunds than those of any other EU member.