A TEAM of Egyptian veterinary experts will meet the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, today to discuss the ban on Irish cattle imports it imposed two weeks ago over fears about BSE.
The three member delegation yesterday began its four gay round of inspections and meetings with industry representatives and Department officials who are pressing for an early lifting of the ban.
The visit follows intense negotiations between the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, and the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr Amr Moussa, about the ban on the trade which is worth £80 million per year.
The visit - the first to Ireland by Egyptian vets or technical personnel in more than three years - has raised hopes in the livestock industry of an early reopening of the live export market.
The ban has put additional pressure on the State's livestock industry which is still reeling from last week's announcement of a 10 per cent cut in EU export refunds, the price supports paid to Irish meat factories when they sell beef outside the EU.
Ireland is the largest net beef exporter in the northern hemisphere, exporting nine out of 10 of its animals and 90 per cent of its steers (castrated bulls) outside the EU. Egypt is Ireland's only live cattle export market. Libya stopped importing Irish cattle last March.
The Egyptian team consists of Prof Adel Abdel Azim Fayed, from the University of Cairo's veterinary faculty; Dr Abdel Rahman Khatter, the former chair of the veterinary faculty at Tanta University, and Dr Alyyoussef Alyyoussef, director general of veterinary quarantines from the Alexandria and Salloum district. Following their visit, they will draw up a report for the Egyptian chief veterinary officer, Dr Ali Moussa.
The experts met for two hours yesterday with the Department of Agriculture's chief veterinary officer, Mr Colm Gaynor; a senior vet, Mr Pat Rogan, and an assistant secretary at the Department, Mr John Malone. A Department spokesman described the meeting as "cordial".
They also visited the Veterinary Control Laboratory and the Central Meat Control Laboratory in Abbotstown, Co Dublin, and met representatives from An Bord Bia last night.
A spokesman for the Department said it was "confident" of impressing on the Egyptian delegation the "elaborate control system we have in place as far as BSE is concerned".
The Department claims that Ireland now has the strictest controls on BSE in the world, far exceeding those demanded by the EU. It says there has never been a case of BSE in the steers which Egypt imports.
Meanwhile, the president of the Irish Farmers' Association, Mr John Donnelly, said he welcomed indications from the Government that it is prepared to provide funding to help Egypt set up control arrangements to allow the live export trade to reopen. Mr Donnelly said this proposal was first put to Mr Spring by the IFA and live exporters at a meeting last week.
A Department spokesman said such an initiative was not discussed in yesterday's meeting, but it was still "early days" for the delegation's visit. Aid to Egypt could consist of technical assistance such as training butchers by Irish industry members, he said. He did not rule out funding from the trade or the Government.
The team will visit Teagasc's Beef Research Centre in Grange, Co Meath, today.