A STRATEGIC beef market in the Middle East, worth £10 to £20 million annually, may soon reopen to Irish exports, it emerged at the weekend.
But a Department of Agriculture spokesman said yesterday it was too soon to say if the United Arab Emirates would accept Irish beef and lift the ban imposed on Irish exports last March.
The UAE was one of many Arab countries to ban Irish beef and live cattle imports following the announcement a year ago in the British House of Commons of a possible link between BSE and nvCJD.
Virtually all the Middle Eastern and north African countries banned Irish beef and cattle imports, and since then an enormous amount of work has gone into restoring the trade.
A fortnight ago the Department's most senior veterinary officer visited the Arab states with a senior official from An Bord Bia, the Irish food board.
A Department spokesman said yesterday the delegation had received indications that the trade would be reopened, but it was too early to confirm these reports.
He described the market as "strategic" because of the UAE's influence in the area and said lifting the ban on Irish beef there could lead to more Arab countries turning to Irish beef again.
A top level veterinary delegation from Iran will be in Dublin over the next few days to re examine Irish BSE controls. There is growing confidence that it will also resume the beef trade with Ireland, which was worth £25 million when the ban was imposed.
Saudi Arabia has already reversed its ban on Irish beef and takes beef worth more than £50 million annually, and while Egypt has banned the import of live cattle from Ireland, it continues to buy Irish beef.
Meanwhile, the problems created by the new controls on rendering what is known as Specific Risk Material from cattle and sheep, introduced on February 21st, continue to cause difficulties in the beef processing trade.
Only one plant, Monery ByProducts, Co Cavan, has been licensed to process the brain, skull, spinal cord and eyes in the Republic, and the meat factories say the price the company charges is too high.
The Irish Meat Association, representing all the meat factories, is demanding Exchequer assistance in paying for the disposal of this material as part of the BSE eradication programme.
But the Department of Agriculture has said the industry must bear the cost of disposing of this material and has been accused by the IMA of washing its hands of the problem.
The factories have threatened to impose a levy on all cattle and sheep slaughtered at plants from next Monday and this had provoked an angry response from the farming organisations which say they will not pay.
On Friday the meat factories won tenders for 2,501 tonnes of EU intervention beet, which will mean that 7,500 bullocks will be slaughtered and taken off the market over the next fortnight.