When the first BSE case of BSE was identified here in 1989 the Government decided it would adopt a "slaughter out" policy, removing all animals in a BSE-infected herd.
This was a costly but effective marketing exercise which has allowed Ireland export beef in most instances despite the fact the country cannot claim to be BSE-free.
The feeding of meat and bonemeal to cattle, sheep and goats had been banned by the EU in 1989, but it was still legal to feed them to pigs and poultry.
The following measures were then adopted in an attempt to arrest the spread of infection:
1989: removal of spinal cord, head and other material from the food chain was ordered by the EU, and progressively more of this so called specified risk material has been added to the banned list.
1996: Possible link between BSE and the human form of the disease, vCJD, made in Britain, led to additional controls, notably segregation of milling and compounding cattle feed in the same premises where meat and bonemeal was being prepared for pig and poultry food.
1996: Feeding of meat and bonemeal to poultry banned by EU.
2000: A ban on incorporation of meat and bonemeal in pig rations.