The State's beef exports to Britain have risen dramatically in the wake of the BSE and foot-and-mouth crises there, and have more than doubled in the last year.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, predicting a good trade for beef this autumn, said the doubling of exports to Britain to over 200,000 tonnes this year was a major success story.
He told journalists at the Agriculture Science Association conference in Dublin that following the breakthrough in the Russian market, announced on Wednesday, he was confident that exports to Egypt could be increased.
"I have asked Commissioner Fischler to consider targeting export refunds for the Egyptian market and I believe he is well disposed to this suggestion," he said.
Mr Walsh said he expected to be able to make an announcement on the Egyptian market, once Ireland's largest international outlet for beef, within a few weeks.
Consumption of beef in the EU, he said, was back to within 4 per cent of pre-BSE crisis levels in 2000, and Ireland was well poised to take advantage of the increased demand.
He praised the Irish marketing effort in the UK which had driven Irish exports to over the 200,000 tonne mark, and said Irish producers and exporters were at the cutting edge of the industry worldwide.
On the harvest generally, Mr Walsh said that while it had been a difficult early summer, there had been excellent weather for the last four or five weeks. Farmers had been able to get their second cut of silage.
"An awful lot of ground has been gained in the past few weeks in relation to the harvest and Teagasc research has shown this," he said.
Asked if there was any possibility for financial aid for farmers who had been badly hit and were unable to recover their losses, Mr Walsh said he had no money for a package. He said he was still opposed to the CAP reform proposals and had arranged a series of bilateral meetings with other Ministers to defend the gains made in the last reform.
"If the proposals as they stand were implemented here, there would be very serious implications for Ireland," he said.
He expected that it would be the middle of next year before serious negotiations would take place.