MORE THAN 100 cattle have been seized at the Border in the past six weeks by mobile BSE patrols. The patrols were set up to prevent animals from Northern Ireland being brought into the Republic.
The system of policing the Border was changed in early October to free gardai from the static checkpoints, allowing them to concentrate on drug related crime in the rest of the State.
The meat industry and the farming organisations had feared that removing some of the static checkpoints would lead to an upsurge in smuggling because of the limited markets open to Northern farmers.
But yesterday the Department of Agriculture expressed satisfaction at the way the new patrols which now involve a large number of Army personnel, are operating.
"Since they came into operation the patrols have seized 100 cattle. Half of these animals have been slaughtered, about a third of the remainder have been handed back and the rest are being held pending further investigation," he said.
He said that since the beginning of what became known as Operation Matador in April, about 1,000 animals had been seized and nearly 500 of these had been slaughtered and the rest returned to the North. Others were being held pending investigation.
From April to October, Operation Matador was costing the Irish taxpayer £70,000 per day in Garda overtime and there had been demands from urban areas that gardai should be recalled from the Border to help fight drug related crime.
The new patrols are carried out mainly by the Army and, according to the Department, are just as effective as the static patrols which used Garda personnel.
Gardai are investigating a case involving the suspected importation of a BSE diseased cow into a Munster dairy herd.