THE Government has agreed to a Fianna Fail request for a one day Dail debate next Thursday on the worsening situation in the beef industry.
The Irish Farmers' Association yesterday accused the Government of under estimating the cost of the BSE crisis to the Irish economy. It claimed losses to the trade would be £150 million this year.
The Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party meeting yesterday was devoted to hearing farm, organisations, meat processors and live exporters.
"Nobody in the Government appears to be overly concerned that the UK BSE fallout is going to cost the Irish economy up to £150 million in 1996, the equivalent of over 10,000 jobs," said Mr Raymond O'Malley, chairman of the IFA livestock committee.
"The perception is that if it's off the TV and out of the newspapers, the problem is solved," he said.
Mr O'Malley said farmers have lost over £150 per head on cattle sold since March, and are demanding full compensation.
"The Minister for Agriculture has allowed cattle prices to tumble to as low as 90p per lb. No progress has been made on securing premium compensation for Irish beef finishers in Brussels and some of our large volume markets remain closed," he said.
A Fianna Fail statement issued after the meeting said there was agreement that the situation was deteriorating, with consumption down in all markets and a deep unhappiness that the proposals to deal with the British BSE problem had not been dealt with at EU level.
The party's spokesman on agriculture, Mr Brian Cowen, said farmers are suffering huge losses and called for an effective intervention scheme.
He criticised the Government's approach to contracts for live exports to Libya, when one for 140,000 cattle had been lost.
The Taoiseach's phone call to President Mubarak of Egypt had "resulted in the Egyptian market being technically reopened. The market is not functioning, however, because of the absence of buyers for Irish beef," he said.
Mr Cowen said it was imperative that the Government be prodded from every possible quarter into taking action.
The Democratic Left TD, Mr Eric Byrne, called on European governments to call "the Tory bluff" and to force Britain to establish a proper herd management programme.
He said the long term cohesion of the European Union would be severely threatened if member states caved in to Mr Major's sabre rattling.