The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has been urged to dissociate himself from a statement by one of his junior ministers who described Britain as the "leper of Europe" because of its handling of foot-and-mouth disease.
Fine Gael MEP Mr Joe McCartin said the remark attributed to Mr Hugh Byrne, Minister of State at the Department of the Marine, was an "affront" to all British citizens. "In strict human terms this was a rash and unkind allegation which sheds very unfavourable light not only on the Irish Government but on the Irish State."
In economic terms, the statement was potentially damaging to "the vital relationship that exists between our two states".
The EU food safety Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, said during a special debate in the European Parliament that the case of foot-and-mouth in France had dashed hopes it could be confined to Britain.
He praised the response of the French government as "very prudent".
Mr Byrne said it was "simplistic" to blame globalisation for the spread of foot-and-mouth as it had been prevalent and even endemic in some countries when the level of international trade was much less significant than at present.
Mr Proinsias De Rossa (Lab) said: "It is wrong to demonise any one country for this outbreak". The disease could have occurred "in any one of our countries, given the intensive, subsidy-driven nature of European farming, which involves the constant movement of livestock".
Fine Gael's Mrs Avril Doyle asked the Commissioner why there was such a difference in responses between Britain and Ireland. "In the UK, with well over 200 outbreaks, racing and football matches and conferences continue, in the Republic of Ireland, with no outbreak, there is an absolute cessation of all non-essential gatherings in rural Ireland."