Walsh to insist on access for Irish beef

The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, yesterday protested to fellow farm ministers over continuing obstructions to access by Irish beef to the British market, most notably an advertising campaign by farmers against foreign beef.

But the British Secretary of State for Agriculture, Mr Jack Cunningham, made clear to journalists that although his government would ensure that routes were clear he would not act against the campaign. "I can't stop people promoting British beef," he said.

Mr Walsh said he would be insisting that Irish beef would have unimpeded access "as is our right under the single market".

Mr Walsh will also be urging the Commission to relax fat content and weight rules for intervention, warning that unless it does so the Irish market may face serious glut problems in the new year.

Britain yesterday unilaterally banned the importation of all beef which does not meet British hygiene standards - specifically beef which has not had removed so-called "specified risk material" (SRM), largely brain and spinal material, from bovine animals over 12 months, and spleen from sheep and goats.

But the ban will not affect Irish exports as the Irish Government decided last February to require SRMs to be removed at the time of slaughtering ahead of the expected EU ban on them.

Yesterday, however, the EU Standing Veterinary Committee backed the postponement of the ban for three months. It had been due to take effect from January 1st.

Mr Cunningham responded with his own ban, saying that he was disappointed this was not happening on a Europe-wide basis. He accused some memberstates of "obfuscation and prevarication" over the issue.

Although SRMs have been banned from the British food and feed chain since the BSE crisis erupted last year, other memberstates have been reluctant to impose similar measures, arguing that the incidence of BSE in their countries did not warrant it.

Eventually, in July, the Commission won a majority for the ban but immediately ran into trouble with drug manufactures who insist the ban on gelatine will jeopardise the production of lifesaving drugs. The US has protested that the ban discriminates against its exporters, claiming that their BSE-free status should mean they can export without controls.

Then new evidence from Britain about dorsal column material forced a further review of the SRM list and the Commission accepted the inevitability of postponement. It is likely to formally approve it today.

The Commission yesterday "seriously regretted" the extension of the US ban on European beef exports, announced on Friday, and suggested it was a form of trade retaliation. The ban affects only some $2 million in exports.