The official policy of slaughtering all the cattle in a herd in which BSE has been identified is being reviewed.
Last week the French food authority advised its government to move away from its "slaughter all" policy towards selective culling, saying that the change would pose no additional risk to consumers.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Food, the "slaughter all" policy operating here, which has cost €163 million since 1989, is subject to ongoing revision.
Ireland introduced the policy of slaughtering every animal in a herd shortly after BSE was detected here in 1989.
In Britain, where the disease was first identified five years before that, the authorities slaughtered only the infected animal on the basis that the disease could not be spread laterally, i.e. from animal to animal.
However, Ireland decided to slaughter all cattle on farms where BSE broke out to provide assurances to consumers and for certification purposes to facilitate our export markets.
Since 1989, over 1,000 herds have been destroyed, including the national herd at the Moorepark Research Centre in Fermoy, Co Cork.
Tens of thousands of perfectly healthy animals have been slaughtered in the Republic. Their carcases were rendered into meat-and-bone meal, which now has to be stored here since it is no longer possible to send meat-and-bone meal abroad for incineration.
Asked this weekend if Ireland was likely to change its policy, a spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture said that the slaughter policy remained in place. "But it is subject to ongoing revision, taking into account scientific, trading and other considerations," she said.
The spokeswoman pointed out that the "slaughter all" policy had been in place since 1989.
Up to August this year, the scheme has cost €163 million in compensation, slaughtering, rendering and disposal. While there has been some financial assistance from the EU towards financing the scheme, most of the costs have had to be met by the Irish taxpayer.
The authorities here are convinced that the disease is being eradicated in the Republic since virtually all of the animals now being detected are in an older subset of animals born before 1997, when they might have been exposed to contaminated meat-and-bone meal.
The segregation of cattle feed from pig and poultry feed in 1997 has led to a dramatic fall in BSE infection in cattle born after that date.
Only two animals born since 1997 have been diagnosed with the disease in the State.
All animals over 30 months old are tested for the disease and the specified risk material in which the disease can reside is removed from the food chain.
The change in the French policy is likely to take place following consultations between the government there and consumer groups.