The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, will meet supermarket executives in London on Monday to impress on them Ireland's anger at the ban on Irish beef in some stores there.
Mr Walsh will be accompanied by Mr Philip Lynch, the chairman of Bord Bia, which is preparing a new market strategy for the British market. They will meet senior executives from Tesco, Sainsburys and the Safeway group, all of which have been involved in the "Buy British" beef campaign.
Tesco, which recently bought the Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices supermarkets here, has advertised in the British farming press that it would not be stocking Irish beef although it is 20 per cent cheaper than British beef. The advertisement has come in for strong criticism and Tesco now says it was a mistake.
The "Buy British" beef campaign is estimated to have reduced Irish beef exports by £2 million in the last three weeks.
Bord Bia is to brand market Irish beef in Britain for the first time and mount a strong advertising campaign in Britain.