FIANNA Fail renewed its attack on the Minister for Agriculture's Russian beef deal in a Private Members motion.

The motion, which condemned Mr Yates for agreeing to the "arbitrary" ban on the export of beef from Cork, Tipperary and Monaghan, was introduced by the party's deputy spokesman on agriculture, Mr Hugh Byrne.

He said repeated warnings of serious trouble in the Russian market had been well rehearsed in the Dail. "The salient political point is that this looming crisis met with a pathetically inadequate response from the Government."

Much had been made of the Minister's promise of a system of traceability after the latest twist in the saga. But commentators had failed to point out that the Minister had been promising the system for months. "It is ironic that something he now says he can deliver in weeks has not been produced over the last months."

Mr Donal Moynihan (FE, Cork North West) said the agreement with Russia had created a dangerous precedent for future negotiations. "I am outraged that anybody should suggest that the quality of Cork beef should be questioned or rated as a lesser quality by anybody."

Mr Batt O'Keeffe (FF, Cork South Central) said Fianna Fail had been asking since March if there was a problem with the Russian deal. Since then, the party had called for a more concerted effort to deal with difficulties of which it was aware, but there was no coming together of the Government on the matter.

Mr Yates moved an amendment calling on the House to "endorse" his efforts to ensure continued exports to Russia. The Opposition motion was opportunistic, unrealistic and self-contradictory, he said.

Seven months on, Mr Yates said the ban on the UK remained in place for the foreseeable future but confidence in beef was returning and consumption was recovering. "But we have to recognise that beef as a product has suffered and it is doubtful if it will ever fully recover its primary position within the meat sector."

Regarding the deal with Russia he said: "It has been suggested that it might have been more cute politically not to sign. That may or may not be the case. However the consequences of not signing need to be fully understood. It would mean an immediate and total ban on Irish beef exports to Russia.

"We would be cut off from our most important market which has bad an import requirement of almost half a million tonnes of beef. There is a surplus of 1 million tonnes of beef in Europe so there are plenty of competitors to seize the opportunity.