Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked many questions so I will try to move through them as quickly as I can. The markets are very calm with regard to this incident. People, governments and veterinary departments which understand BSE and its history understand these isolated one-off cases can happen. The important thing is how they are dealt with, and a number of people outside of Ireland have complimented me and the Department. Catching this animal and dealing with it in a transparent and open way is proof the Irish system is working.

We have not received negative feedback from the countries with which we trade. Of course we have provided information and reassurance to all of them and it seems to be working very well. Beef prices have increased since the incident happened. They are not increasing because it happened but they certainly have not decreased and the demand for Irish beef has not reduced. This is an indication people trust our systems. I believe Irish beef is the safest in the world, and this is the case now as it was a month ago.

On the OIE question, of course we have shared all of our results with European Commission and the OIE. Unfortunately we may well get reclassified. Three weeks ago we were upgraded to negligible risk status, which means no issue at all with BSE, from controlled risk status, which means our controls make us safe. However, controls are necessary. We may well now have to revert back to controlled risk, but this is a matter for the OIE and we will have to wait to see what happens.

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