Veterinary experts predict that the number of cases of BSE being recorded in the State will continue to rise over the next year. This is due to increased awareness and more testing.
The official figures issued by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development were the highest on record for a monthly period since the disease was first identified here in 1989.
One has to look back to November 1996, when the number of cases began to rise, to find a month with a total anywhere near the November 2000 figure, which was 25.
Up to 1996, when it was stated in the British parliament that there was a possible link between BSE and the human disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), the number of cases annually did not exceed 20.
Immediately, beef consumption over Europe slumped and in 1996, 74 cases were reported. In the following year there were 80, in 1998, 83 and 95 last year.
Since 1996, according to Mr Fintan Graham, president of the Irish Veterinary Union, farmers have been vigilant in relation to BSE. Any animal showing any sign of nervousness is reported to the vet.
"While the majority of these cases turn out not to be BSE at all, normally they have tetany or meningitis, the farmers are calling us in and we are turning up more cases," he said.
He said there was also a greater awareness of the disease in the veterinary profession as well, particularly at factories, where animals were being examined very closely before they were slaughtered.
He said that two months ago, the IVU had held seminars for its members who carried out inspections in meat plants, advising them what to look for and to lay down guidelines.
Experts in the Department of Agriculture and Mr Graham believe that the testing of fallen and casualty animals, which has been going on since the end of the summer, has also contributed to the increase.
"None of the factories are now prepared to take casualty or so-called fallen animals at all. Even if the animal has a broken leg, the factories will not process them," Mr Graham said.
Perhaps one of the more significant developments since 1996 has been that in rural Ireland, farmers are no longer ashamed to admit having a case of BSE on their farm.
Prior to that there is evidence of a culture of slaughtering and burying the animal despite the fact that there was full compensation for the loss of the herd. Having BSE was equated to having Bovine TB in the herd, which is still a stigma.
In one case in Munster in the late 1990s, the children of one farmer who had officially reported BSE in his herd, were ostracised in their school. No one in the area would speak to the farmer or his wife.
This was at a time when the Russians decided they would take beef only from counties where BSE levels were low.
Derek Scally in Berlin writes:
The German President, Mr Johannes Rau, last night signed into law emergency legislation banning the feeding of meat-and-bone meal to all German livestock - pigs and poultry as well as cattle and sheep.
The ban, one of the most rapidly enacted pieces of legislation in German federal history, was backed unanimously by both houses of parliament. It is a show of support for Chancellor Schroder's call for an outright ban across Europe.
Meat-and-bone meal has been blamed for spreading BSE and its use for cattle has been banned in Europe since 1994.
From next Wednesday it will be illegal to sell untested meat from cattle aged 30 months or older.