The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, has ended the policy of burying BSE-suspect animals on farms.
He said he had done so to prevent a repetition of the "deplorable incident in Co Galway". The change in policy came two days after it became known that a BSE-infected animal had been buried near the source of four group water supply schemes and 14 private wells near Loughrea.
In a statement last night the Minister said it had been necessary to bury such animals because no alternative means of disposal, such as incineration, was available.
"It remains the case that we have no ready alternative for disposal and ultimate destruction of such animals but my Department is very actively engaged in pursuing options which may provide a solution," he said.
"Such options require the agreement of other parties and further meetings to advance this process have been held today," he said.
Pending a resolution of the problem, carcasses would be retained in cold storage, Mr Walsh said.
He said this decision aimed to avoid a repetition of the recent incident in Co Galway in which an animal, buried in August, was dug up and left in the open, and further controversy of the type which had been generated within the past few days, causing unnecessary alarm and distress.
"We cannot risk a repetition of the recent deplorable incident in Co Galway and of the risks which it creates," the Minister said.
"Nor are we prepared to allow further public distress be caused by alarmist statements or unwarranted inferences about the safety of water supplies when no evidence has been produced which indicates that the burial of any of these animals has adversely affected a local water supply.
"While we have at all times been open about the need to bury animals and how we go about doing so, we have not until now encountered developments of this kind," he said.
"Notwithstanding that, we have confidence in the safeguards which have been a feature of our burial practices," Mr Walsh said. "We believe that on balance it is now right to change our approach if that is necessary to avoid the risks and obvious distress to which these recent developments have given rise," he said.
The Irish Farmers' Association said yesterday it supported the Minister's decision to discontinue the burial of infected animals.
The solution to the problem would be to provide a central disposal agency, it said.
The Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture, Mr Alan Dukes, welcomed the Minister's change of policy last night and said the matter would not be resolved properly until an incinerator was built which could deal with BSE-infected animals.
He also called on the Minister to reveal the location of the other 550 burials so the remains could be removed and stored for incineration and the ground water in the areas checked.