The Department of Agriculture said today the European Commission decision to prolong the ban on livestock feed containing animal meal presents further challenges for the Irish agricultural industry.
A Department spokesman said Ireland would certainly comply with the ban but that the main challenge that resulted from its extension lay in disposing of meat and bone-meal.
The Department said the issue became one of waste-management as the longer the ban extended the more meat and bone-meal would have to be disposed of.
The European Commission said today it intended to prolong the temporary ban on the use of all livestock feed containing animal meal over fears of spreading mad cow disease.
The ban, introduced at the start of the year in response to the discovery of the first cases of the cattle brain disease in Germany and Spain, had been due to expire on July 1st.
EU farm ministers meeting in Luxembourg failed to reach a definitive decision on the extension but under EU rules the Commission has the power to implement its original proposal.
"We will adopt it in the next two weeks," said Ms Beate Gminder, spokeswoman for Ireland'sEU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Mr David Byrne.