Intensive efforts are being made to reopen foreign markets to Irish beef, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Joe Walsh said today.
Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Mr Walsh said that his department and An Bord Bia had targeted markets which had been traditionally important for the Irish beef sector but which have been closed to European beef since the BSE crisis in Europe in late 2000.
While it is acknowledged that the handling of the BSE crisis in Ireland was of the highest standard possible, he said that it remained the case that import bans imposed on Europe generally continue to have an effect here also.
For this reason, Mr Walsh said he had done everything possible to bring the relevant officials to Ireland and to let them see the BSE measures in place and the guarantees of product safety on which they can rely.
Delegations from Kuwait and South Africa have already been to Ireland to review the situation, while others have been invited. Plans are being finalised for further visits over the coming weeks by officials from Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
Mr Walsh emphasised the importance of the European Union to Ireland’s economic success and said that membership had been good for us, with a huge market on our doorstep.
He said that direct payments made up 57 per cent of farm incomes in this country and that most of that came from the EU. The Minister also said that Irish farming has received €20 billion from the Europe since joining the then EEC in 1973.
"I strongly support the Nice Treaty and I will be encouraging the industry to support it," he said. "If we were outside Europe for the past 20 years we would now have a Third World economy."
Mr Walsh also introduced the two new Junior Ministers in his Department: Mr Liam Aylward, Minister of State for Agriculture, with responsibility for animal health and customer service, and Mr Noel Treacy, who has been reassigned to the Department of Agriculture from his former position as Minister of State for Science, Technology and Commerce.
