The Department of Agriculture has been asked to explain why seven calves found without identification tags last Thursday were buried in a disused dump close to a school in Roscrea.
Locals became concerned when they discovered the Department, in co-operation with north Tipperary County Council, had buried the seven calves in an old municipal dump near Corville National School instead of rendering them.
Last Friday the Department said the six calves had been slaughtered at Glynn's Abattoir outside Limerick (one calf was dead when it was found). However, during the weekend it had been slaughtered and buried in Roscrea, to reduce the travelling distance and minimise the risk of infection.
Samples were taken from the animals for a routine analysis at Abbotstown and some of them were forwarded to Pirbright, which was "normal operations procedure", the Department said, and there was no concern about foot-and-mouth infection in this case.
Yesterday a Department spokesman confirmed that the animals had been buried in the dump. He said strict procedures had been followed when burying the animals in a lined grave to minimise any risk of disease spread.
The Department spokesman said the council had received permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to bury the animals and emphasised that "as far as disease is concerned, we are not treating this as a foot-and-mouth infection".
However, Mr Noel Coonan, a local Fine Gael election candidate, said: "Farmers are up in arms here. They are worried because they themselves are not allowed to bury cattle when they die. They have to send dead cattle to rendering plants. This dump has been closed for a number of years and the last thing that people want is dead animals being brought into it."
Local farmers near the dump insist the animals should be moved. They say they are assembling a delegation to visit local Department representatives to find out why the animals were buried.
However, the IFA North Tipperary chairman, Mr Pat Hogan, said he was satisfied that the Department and the council fulfilled the proper guidelines when burying the animals, which were not regarded as "hot suspect" cases.
The IFA president, Mr Tom Parlon, yesterday said the calves were found "in an emaciated state and we would be concerned that people would have animals like this".