AS the number of cases of BSE continues to rise, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates, has allocated £5 million for research into the disease.
A statement from his office said last night that the money was being made available for research into topics related to transmissible bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
The topics include the development of diagnostic tests, slaughtering and butchering methods, traceability of meat, disposal of specified risk material, profiling scrapie and strategies for its elimination.
The statement said the funds were being made available under the food sub programme of the operational programme for industrial development on the advice of the Food Research Committee, set up by him to advise on priorities for research.
The money will come from EU funds allocated last month for seeking solutions to the BSE problem, which has caused irreversible damage to the beef industry throughout the Union.
On Wednesday the Department confirmed four new cases of the disease bringing the total so far this year to 58. The total for 1995 was 16.
There have been 173 cases of the disease in the Irish herd of 7.4 million animals since it was first identified here in 1989.
The upsurge in cases has created some alarm in farming circles at a time when the disease level is falling off in England, where there have been nearly 170,000 cases in the same period.
Scottish figures released recently show just over 5,000 cases in the same period in a herd exceeding three million animals. Northern Ireland has the lowest level of infection in the UK, with 1,734 cases in a herd approaching 1.5 million animals.
There has been intensive scientific investigation into the rise in cases here over the summer. But, according to Mr Yates, the findings have been inconclusive.
There was some evidence, he said, that meat and bone meal continued to be fed to animals after the 1990 ban was imposed.
Gardai are continuing their investigations into two cases where there is suspicion that the animals were imported into herds for compensation purposes. The Department pays the full market value for all animals found in a BSE infected herd.