The Minister for Agriculture said that he has been assured that the bulk of Ireland's £200m worth of exports to the United States will not be affected by the US ban on EU food imports. Joe Walsh also said that all sheep in Ireland must soon be tagged individually. Last night, the United States banned imports of meat and dairy products from the EU for the time being, following the spread of foot and mouth to France. They also began inspecting exports which had been in transit since mid-February.
But after a night of diplomatic activity, the Minister for Agriculture said that he does not expect most of our exports of food ingredients, chocolate crumb or creme liqueurs to be hit. However, £20m of pig meat products are likely to be included. The Taoiseach is to emphasise our freedom from foot and mouth when he meets President Bush on Friday, in order to strengthen our case for exclusion from any future US embargoes.
A number of other countries have also imposed bans on European food, but the Agriculture Minister said that he is most concerned about Japan, which also imports about £20m of pork from Ireland annually. The Minister said that he would "bet the deeds of his house" that no animals had been smuggled over the border since the current emergency began. Asked if Junior Ministers had been asked to desist from criticising British measures, Mr Walsh said that their silence over the past 24 hours spoke volumes.
Mr Walsh also said that from mid-May, all eight million sheep in this country would have to be individually tagged. This is a tougher measure than planned, as it had been thought that each flock would have a number rather than each animal. There had been some farmer resistance to this, but this evening Tom Parlon of the IFA said that the new system is a very heavy imposition of bureaucracy on genuine sheep farmers who are now paying the price for the actions of a few unscrupulous dealers.
The EU's Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner, David Byrne, has described as "unjustified and excessive" the ban placed on EU food imports by 90 countries, including the United States. He was speaking during a debate on the foot and mouth disease in the European Parliament where there was criticism of the Junior Minister, Hugh Byrne, for his description of Britain as "the leper of Europe".
Yesterday, the North's Minister of Agriculture, Bríd Rodgers, said that initial test results on the sheep suspected of having foot and mouth disease in County Tyrone have proved negative. She emphasised, however, that the results were preliminary. Mrs Rodgers also stressed that there could be no relaxation yet of the measures imposed to contain and combat the outbreak.
