Higher subsidies on the agenda as BSE scares consumers

Government officials will be seeking increased subsidies for beef exports at this morning's meeting of the EU beef management committee in Brussels because of the latest BSE scare in France.

Beef consumption in France has fallen by 30 per cent because of the scare, according to Bord Bia. France is one of Ireland's main markets for cow beef.

Meanwhile, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Franz Fischler, will propose a cold-storage scheme for beef - known as an Aids to Private Storage scheme - at this morning's meeting. This is at the insistence of France and Ireland in particular, and probably will be available only for cow beef. However, Irish processors and farmers would argue that all beef sales are affected by ongoing BSE scares.

The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, met representatives of the Irish Meat Association and the Irish Farmers' Association yesterday to get their views on the looming crisis in the industry.

Department of Agriculture officials have not specified what increase in the level of export refunds they would consider necessary, but they may ask for a reversal of the latest cutback in the level of export refunds, which was around 20 per cent.

It is not clear whether a final decision on supports for the beef industry will be taken at today's meeting. It is possible the officials on the beef management committee will leave the final decision to the Council of Agriculture Ministers, which meets on Monday.

The reported price for beef in the EU is not showing a large fall, despite the French controversy, which is taken all the more seriously because the French traditionally eat cow, rather than steer, beef. Irish consumers eat heifer beef.

Exporting countries - of which Ireland is the biggest in the EU - would contend that it takes several weeks for the full impact of such a scare to percolate through to market prices. They are also insisting that the Commission should make provision in advance for such a development, rather than reacting after the market has dropped.

Aids to private storage is a scheme that has not been in operation for many years and was designed originally to cope with beef surpluses.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs, Mr David Byrne, is developing a scheme of community-wide testing for BSE in live animals to restore consumer confidence in beef. Until now, only post-mortem testing has been available, generally for ascertaining BSE infection.