EU agriculture ministers have agreed to ban the feeding of meat and bone-meal to farm animals in an attempt to halt the spread of BSE.
However, as they met in Brussels last night, the ministers were at odds over how much compensation farmers should receive for loss of income due to the BSE crisis.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, voted in favour of the meat and bone-meal ban. But he told the meeting that imposing such a far-reaching ban had considerable implications.
"A sudden change of status for meat and bone-meal immediately presents us with the enormous environmental problem of how to deal with large stocks of product which are on hand and will continue to build up as long as animals are slaughtered," he said.
"There are no incineration facilities in Ireland for this product, and it is doubtful if there is sufficient capacity available elsewhere in the EU."
Mr Walsh warned that the issue of replacing animal protein could present serious problems. Germany voted against the ban on the grounds that it did not go far enough to restore consumer confidence in beef.
Berlin wanted to ban the feeding of animal fats to farm animals, but the proposal found little support.
Yesterday's emergency meeting of EU agriculture ministers was called in response to a package of anti-BSE measures proposed by the Food Safety Commissioner, Mr David Byrne.
Apart from the ban on meat and bone-meal, the ministers agreed to remove from the food chain all cattle over 30 months which had not been tested for BSE. The European Commission has agreed to pay 70 per cent of the cost of destroying older cattle, leaving the member-states to pay the rest of the bill.
Beef sales have collapsed in much of the EU following the recent rise in BSE cases. Many non-EU countries have banned beef imports from some EU member-states, a fact that Mr Walsh claimed will hurt Irish farmers very badly.
"Because Ireland produces so much beef and because our own population is small, we must export 90 per cent of our production. This level of export dependence makes the Irish beef sector highly vulnerable to market downturns," he said.
"Consequently, the present crisis has already impacted severely on the Irish beef market and that impact is virtually certain to get worse. Cattle slaughterings have fallen significantly, and the backlog of cattle on farms is beginning to take on serious proportions."
The Minister said that the decision by Egypt, which is Ireland's biggest export market, to suspend import licences for all EU beef was a serious blow.
Earlier yesterday Mr Walsh met representatives of Irish farm organisations. Mr Pat O'Rourke, president of the ICMSA, said he was pleased the Minister was calling for EU intervention to support the price of beef.
"The Europe-wide measures based on science and common sense must be adopted by the EU agriculture ministers. To date, I believe that there is an over-reaction by some memberstates such as Germany, while others are still in denial stage as regards BSE.
"Neither of these positions will solve the crisis facing the EU beef sector. I am hopeful but very concerned that real progress must be made by the ministers today," Mr O'Rourke said.
"Otherwise there will be further loss of beef markets resulting in an enormous drop of income for Irish farmers."
The president of the IFA, Mr Tom Parlon, said that intervention must be introduced immediately. It was time that European leaders showed more concern for the plight of farmers hit by the BSE crisis.
