THE Department of Agriculture's special investigation team yesterday carried out its first raids in leases where it is suspected BSE was deliberately introduced. Also yesterday, three new BSE cases were confirmed.
One of the raids, in Co Cork, was on a farm where one of the three new cases was identified. Documents were seized by the team, which was accompanied by gardai.
In a raid on a Co Tipperary farm a Garda spokesman said, a cow had been seized and taken for examination and a number of documents had also been removed.
The three new eases announced yesterday by the Department were in Cos Clare, Cork and Monaghan. This brings the total number of animals confirmed as having the disease in the Republic to 159 since 1989, and the number of cases this year to 44.
The Co Clare ease was in a five- year-old cow from a herd of 281 cows, and the Monaghan case was a five-year-old animal from a suckler herd of 178.
Announcing the third ease in Co Cork, where yesterday's raid took place, the Department spokesman said the cow's age was unknown but the herd was a dairy one of 144 animals.
Last week the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, announced he had asked the special investigation team which had been working full-time on curbing the use of illegal animal drugs to turn its attention to the problem of suspected deliberate BSE infection.
He said some of the cases presented as genuine to the Department were suspicious, and gardai were being asked to look at two of the cases and were about to become involved in a third.
He told the Dail during the special debate on the Russian beef deal that in one of the cases under Garda investigation the farmer had claimed the infected animal was eight yearn old but its ear tag appeared to belong to a 15-year-old animal.
Until early this month, the Department had been spending £250,000 a week on preventing animals coming across the Border. It has been reluctant to say that the so-called "Operation Matador" was unsuccessful and that some animals may have been transported illegally from the North, where there have been nearly 1,700 BSE eases in a herd of 1.5 million.
Earlier this year the Department started its own investigation when it was found that by July the number of eases from January last was double that of the previous year's 16.
A survey of the eases was carried out, and while most could be traced to contaminated bonemeal, there were eight for which no logical explanation could be found.
This prompted suspicion that some farmers might have introduced diseased animals to their herds to claim the compensation paid by the Department under its containment programme, which involves the slaughter of all animals on the farm on a voluntary basis.
Last week Mr Yates warned he had the power to slaughter animals on a compulsory basis and would do this if necessary.
He had earlier said he could not tolerate a situation where some farmers thought it was good as "getting six numbers in the Lottery" if they found the disease in their herd.
Yesterday's new eases of the disease bring the total of confirmed BSE cattle found in Cork to 41, to six in Monaghan and to two in Clare.
Meanwhile, talks in Strasbourg between EU farm ministers and the Commission on compensation for European beef farmers adjourned last night without agreement.
The Irish presidency worked throughout last night to prepare a new compromise package with the Commission. However, Unless the Commission comes up with a specific and very large sum of extra compensation for farmers, the talks are expected to- collapse.
In another development yesterday, Northern farmers said they would pay for a special cull if it would help get their meat back on the world market.
The Ulster Farmers' Union president, Mr Greer McCollum, said the measure would be a last resort. The cull would involve only 1,685 cattle, he said, and the cost could be met out of compensation paid for previous animal disposals.