The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, spoke by telephone yesterday with the Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Goweili, in an attempt to rescue Ireland's beef trade with that country.
Mr Walsh said he had impressed on Dr Goweili the importance of the trade to Ireland, the quality controls in place in the Republic and the guarantees given to consumers of Irish beef.
The Minister has arranged to see Dr Goweili after the farm ministers' meeting in Brussels next week, when further measures will be put in place in Europe to deal with BSE.
There were some positive signs yesterday that the State's £200 million annual meat trade with Egypt might not be disrupted for too long.
The Egyptian ambassador to Ireland, Dr Ashraf Rashed, told a delegation from the Irish Meat Association that there was no ban on Irish beef, but a temporary suspension of the issuing of new licences to import beef from Europe until the BSE issue had been dealt with.
The IMA said yesterday that its coldstores were filling up with beef which could not be moved.
Mr John Smith, the IMA chief executive, said factory operators would have to be compensated for their losses. He added that an intervention scheme was urgently needed.
Ireland's official BSE figures for November are due to be issued later today. There have already been 20 cases in the last three weeks, higher than any previous figures.