A computer seized in the Republic by the special unit (SIU) of the Department of Agriculture investigating the use of bogus Irish labels on British beef found in France and Germany is yielding vital information on other possible earlier irregularities.
The computer was seized from a meat-processing unit in a series of raids by the team after it was found that Irish labels may have been used on 100 tonnes of a 600-tonne shipment of British beef found in Hamburg. There is a worldwide ban on the export of British beef because of BSE.
While the SIU and two EU teams found that there was no evidence of Irish involvement in the shipments, sources close to the SIU team said that when the computer codes were cracked, "very interesting" information was uncovered.
The company from which the computer was taken has been cleared of any involvement in the British fraud in which Irish labels were used on British beef. Invoices issued to bogus Irish addresses were uncovered by German and French customs.
While the investigation ruled out any involvement in the fraud by any part of the industry in the Republic, information on possible irregularities in the past has been uncovered.
In the Dail last week the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, told Mr Hugh Coveney, Fine Gael's agriculture spokesman, that the beef involved was of British origin and bore no Irish health marks.
He said there was no evidence that the beef had been shipped to Germany through the Irish Republic. To counter any damaging effects, the Department of Foreign Affairs, An Bord Bia and his own Department would continue to clarify the situation abroad.