Irish taxpayers' money will not be used in setting up processing facilities in Alexandria, Egypt to assist the reopening of the live cattle trade there. The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, confirmed this yesterday at the National Ploughing Association championships in Birr. He said the Egyptians, who had purchased more than £150 million worth of live cattle at the height of the trade two years ago, had demanded that equipment to remove the brain and spinal cord of live animals at slaughter should be provided at a special abattoir.
He said the importers of the animals will lease a special slaughterhouse in which to process a trial shipment of Irish animals and the exporters will provide the special suction machinery to remove the spine, brain and other materials.
"This is not expensive equipment. It will cost a few thousand pounds and the only other expense is to provide quarantine facilities for the animals," he said.
Mr Walsh said the Government proposals for the trial shipment had already been sent to the Egyptians and their requirements could be met in weeks.
He said if everything worked to plan, the trial shipment could be sent in weeks and he was confident that if one shipment was allowed into the country, others will follow.
Mr Walsh said the Egyptians had already purchased 30,000 tonnes of beef so far this year and it was expected that they would double their imports, making the trade worth £120 million.
Mr Walsh also revealed that the Russian delegation which visited Ireland last month to review its imports from Ireland had sought to ban the import of cattle from Kildare and Clare.
"We managed to persuade them that they should not do that and also persuaded them to remove their ban on Wexford. We are very pleased with the outcome." He defended his Department's handling of the BSE crisis as being "very professional" and said that Ireland had a very low incidence of the disease, at 0.002 per cent.
He said a beef quality assurance scheme with full traceability of animals will be in place by Easter and he also announced the setting up of four consultative groups, to deal with beef, milk, cereals and rural development, to advise him on the impact of Santer proposals to reform the CAP.
The Department was also drawing up a report on the future of the beef processing industry which will be published early next year. Mr Hugh Coveney, Fine Gael's spokesman on agriculture, said it appeared Mr Walsh's trip to Cairo to reopen the live trade had been unsuccessful.