The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, might visit Egypt in an effort to save the £100 million live cattle industry, after meetings between officials from his Department and the Cairo authorities.
The two-day meeting continues today at which the Department's deputy chief veterinary inspector, Mr Albert Costello, and the assistant secretary in charge of veterinary services, Mr Seamus Healy, have been trying to convince Egypt to lift the ban on live cattle imports, imposed last January due to the BSE scare.
The issues at the top of the agenda include the provision of special equipment to extract risk material from cattle and an incinerator.