THREE thousand jobs have already been lost in Northern Ireland as a direct result of the BSE crisis in the beef sector, according to the latest estimates from the industry.

Emergency talks took place yesterday between members of the Northern Ireland business community and representatives of the government's BSE task force.

They followed last week's walkout by meat industry representatives from a meeting with the Industrial Development Board over what they saw as the lack of an adequate response to the threat facing local companies.

Mr Norbert Quinn, of the Meat Exporters' Association, who attended yesterday's meeting, said the jobs lost so far are only a small fraction of those at risk if the crisis continues. According to his estimate, this could amount to between 30,000 and 50,000.

The Northern Ireland Livestock Auctioneers' Association, said permanent jobs in the business could be at risk.

At an emergency three hour meeting in Dungannon, many auctioneers said they had already introduced staff cuts of up to 75 per cent.

Over the weekend efforts were made to find some way around the export ban on British beef. Mr Bill Tosh of the Confederation of British Industry in Northern Ireland said he contacted IBEC in Dublin to see if their support could help the beef industry in Northern Ireland.

Mr Denis Galway of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce said the impact of the export ban was having a severe effect on the transport industry.

"There are a lot of haulage firms which are feeling the pinch very badly," he said.