THE Russian veterinary authorities are demanding an extension of their beef ban to five new counties before the expiry of the current protocol at the beginning of February, it emerged yesterday.
The extension of the ban is being resisted by the Department of Agriculture, which is sending a technical team to Moscow next week to try to prevent a ban on beef from Limerick, Cavan, Wexford, Meath and Donegal.
The team, led by one of the Department's senior veterinary officers, Mr Colm Gaynor, who will be accompanied by personnel from An Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, will argue against extending the ban beyond Cork, Monaghan and Tipperary.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, admitted yesterday that if the Russians demanded an extension of their ban it could not be resisted. "If it comes to it we will have to accept," the Minister told the RTE radio's News at One. His spokesman last night insisted that the ban would not be extended in advance of next week's Moscow visit.
There was better news from the Egyptian market yesterday when it was learned that two of the three ships carrying Irish cattle to Port Said and Alexandria harbours had arrived and were being unloaded despite the ban.
The Friesian Express and the Bison, carrying more than 3,000 bullocks, docked and were discharged and a third ship, the Galloway Express, was due last night in Alexandria.
Last night the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, made contact again with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mrs Amr Moussa. Afterwards Mr Spring expressed optimism that steady progress towards an early lifting of the ban on live cattle was being made.
He said he had transmitted technical information to Egy reassuring the authorities there about the safety of Irish beef. Mr Moussa said that President Hos Mubarak was taking an interest in continuing efforts to resolve the matter.
The original decision by Mr Yates to allow a partial ban on exports to Russia, worth nearly £300 million last year, was criticised again yesterday by the Irish Farmers' Association president, Mr John Donnelly.
He said his organisation was demanding that the Minister prevent the price of cattle falling below 90p a lb this spring in order to ensure the survival of winter beef producers.
Mr Yates, he said, must now guarantee real price competition between beef factories by publishing price returns from both EU and international markets in order to ensure that farmers are not made victims of the loss of the live trade.
He also denied farmers were to blame for the continuing rise in BSE figures, but he claimed the lack of proper policing of the meat and bonemeal ban was to blame.
Only in recent times, he said, were farmers aware that even a small amount of contaminated bone meal carried on the same truck as animal feed could create the disease.
Following a 45 minute meeting between a Fine Gael agriculture delegation and the Egyptian charge d'affaires, Mr Hossam Moharam, in Dublin, Mr Paul Connaughton expressed "grounds for cautious optimism for a resumption of this vitally important trade".
It was also confirmed yesterday that the EU would not be proceeding with a proposed 5 per cent cut in export refunds. This decision will help Ireland sell its beef in all non EU markets.
The beef factories had been, claiming during the week that the proposed cut was generating even more confusion in the markets and meant they could not quote prices for animals.