The Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development is to designate at least five of the Irish beef processing plants the task of killing and destroying animals untested for BSE under the EU plan.
This emerged yesterday from sources involved in the talks to draw up a contingency plan to reduce the beef mountain as a result of a huge drop in consumption in Europe because of BSE.
The test-or-destruct scheme is the preferred option for the industry as it will help balance the beef markets, give the highest level of compensation to farmers and will mean that the EU will not be responsible for large stocks of intervention beef.
One of the issues delaying the finalisation of the plan is that meat factories want to be allowed to use killing lines for beef for human consumption in the same plants where the test or destruct operations are being carried out. The scheme is due to start on January 1st.
Yesterday, the president of the IFA, Mr Tom Parlon, said his organisation had been putting pressure on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Mr Walsh, to increase the compensation being paid to farmers for the destruction of their animals.
"Under the current rules, the Minister has the leeway to increase the price that is being paid by 5 per cent and we are pressurising him to do this so that the base price being paid to farmers will be 90p per lb," he said.
Mr Parlon added that this demand would be articulated at the emergency rally of beef farmers at Goffs, Kill, Co Kildare, tomorrow.