The former president of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Eddie Downey has warned farmers to be apprehensive about the confirmed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Brazil.

Authorities in Brazil confirmed a case of BSE – or mad cow disease – and have suspended beef exports to China. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has also been alerted.

Eddie Downey was speaking at a conference on the future of agriculture hosted by Fine Gael at the Ard Rí Hotel in Tuam, Co. Galway last evening (Thursday, February 24).

A panel of speakers at the event included Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, MEP Maria Walsh, as well as Siobhán Lawless owner of the Foods of Athenry and Stephen Hannon, general manager of Aurivo Marts.

Eddie Downey

Last year, Eddie Downey was selected to chair Fine Gael’s National Agricultural, Food and Rural Development Forum, which has organised a series of regional conferences to discuss the future of farming.

At one of the meetings, held in Tuam last night, Downey was discussing the premium price that Irish grass-based beef should be getting at market.

He told the audience: “I met a farmer the other day and he was ‘cockahoop’ over the fact that Brazil potentially has a BSE case and he thought this was going to deliver mega ‘bucks’ and mega money for him.

“Just to let anyone know, when a country like Brazil or any other country gets a BSE case, that puts cheaper beef on the world market, not rises the price.

“Be very careful what you wish on others; it’s something we need to be very careful about and we have protected ourselves so well since that BSE crisis and we have all lived through it, and how we have got ourselves to the place we are today,” he added.

Downey urged farmers not to underestimate Bord Bia, Teagasc and other agencies and the science and research they provide.

“We criticise them everyday; we should, we should challenge them to be better and better but there is a reality in that. Be very careful what you wish for,” he continued.

“That BSE case in Brazil could spell disaster not success for us, we just need to be careful with it.”

Meanwhile, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has urged the European Commission to investigate the situation in Brazil and take all “necessary precautions” following confirmation of the case by the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.