THE Department of Agriculture said yesterday four new cases of BSE had been found in cattle in the Republic. This brings the total so far this year to 18 infected animals, compared to 13 cases last year, 19 in 1994 and 16 in 1993.
An extended slaughter policy to reassure consumers was also announced by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates. Already £13.5 million has been spent slaughtering 19,500 cattle. Since 1988, 133 cases of the disease have been found in the Republic.
The Minister insisted that 99.98 per cent of Irish cattle were free of the disease and its incidence was low and sporadic in the Irish herd of seven million animals.
Two of the new cases are in Co Cork in a five year old cow in a mixed herd of 244 animals and in an eight year old cow in a dairy herd of 126 animals. The third case involved a 6 1/2 year old cow in a Meath dairy herd.
There was also a case in Co Monaghan involving a five year old cow in a beef suckler herd of 470 animals. All animals in four herds, 944 cattle, will be destroyed and their carcasses burned in line with Department policy.
The Minister announced the extension of this slaughter scheme to cover the herd of origin of two of the diseased animals, which will involve slaughtering six herds in all. This policy had been used "a couple of times since the beginning of the year. Department officials said they would be examining herds where a diseased animal may have spent more than one year.
Earlier this month, the deputy chief veterinary officer in Britain, Mr Kevin Taylor, criticised the Irish slaughter policy and predicted an increase in Irish cases of BSE this year unless the herd of origin was also examined.
The announcement of the new cases could hardly have come at a worse time. The consumption of red meat has not recovered since the crisis began on March 20th.