An immediate decision to permit the processing of pigs which were not fed on suspect meals was essential if significant unnecessary social and economic consequences were not to occur in many rural areas.

This was stated by Marian Harkin MEP when she said that she would be raising the possibility of EU emergency funds to support the compensation costs which were an inevitable consequence of the current crisis in the meat sector.

“Mass unemployment, directly in factories and indirectly in the services sector, will decimate local economies and I urge the government to implement measures immediately to restore confidence in our pigmeat industry and take steps to counter any lack of confidence among consumers and customers at home an abroad, she said.

She urged the Government to act in the knowledge that human health was, according to expert opinion, not endangered.  “If the Belgian experience of nine years ago had indicated otherwise there would be no option but to take the most drastic action but the fact that there have been no adverse health outcomes from that event should lend confidence to the Government that they will be acting in the national interest by decisions which enable the meat industry to resume normal activity within the week”, she suggested.

An aid to private storage initiative was vital in order to avoid any bottleneck in the processing and supply system as customers lost would be very difficult to regain, she said.  “This is the most serious threat to Ireland’s economy and, as a matter of urgency, the Government must bolster the public relations efforts of An Bord Bia, in all of our world markets for Irish meat products, to ensure that an accurate representation of the actual situation is transmitted about the safety of Irish pigmeat and other Irish food products, Marian Harkin MEP concluded.