As BSE figures continue to rise, a Labour Party TD has expressed concern that Irish consumers must have been exposed to contaminated beef in the past 10 years and were at risk from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease - the human form of mad cow disease.
"I am surprised at the upward trend in the figures and I believe we should be putting some sort of plans in place to help those people who may have contracted the disease," said Dr Mary Upton, who is Labour's consumer affairs and food safety spokesperson and a microbiologist.
She said she could not see how Irish people could have avoided getting vCJD with the levels of imported mechanically recovered beef from Britain and hitherto unknown levels of infection not only in Irish herds but also in other European herds.
The Republic has had only one recorded case of vCJD and this was attributed to the fact that the victim had spent most of her life working in Britain when BSE was rampant there.
Increased surveillance of sick and casualty animals here since July of last year has continued to push BSE figures upwards as the full picture of infection in the national herd is emerging. Last year's record total of 149 looks as if it will be surpassed this year as the three additional cases uncovered this week pushed the annual total so far to 128.
The number of cases has traditionally been higher in the last three months of the year.
The annual tally of cases has jumped from 74 in 1996 to 80 in 1997, 83 in 1999. It rose to 149 last year with the introduction of active surveillance of the national herd in July ahead of mandatory testing ordered by the EU.
A statement from the Department of Agriculture said that of the three new cases disclosed this week two had been identified by traditional passive surveillance (reported by a farmer or vet) and the third in the mass testing of animals over 30 months of age in meat plants.
Noting that the dairy cows involved were 10, seven and six years old, the statement said age profile of cases continued to show the additional control measures, introduced in 1996 and 1997, were proving effective.
"The underlying trend in relation to the number of BSE cases disclosed remains favourable. The number of cases disclosed to date should be considered in the context of a total cattle population of 7.6 million," it said.
"To date no animals born after 1996 have been detected with BSE and an ever increasing proportion of infected animals are six years of age or older," the Department concluded.
A total of 15 infected animals were detected in the 258,414 tests carried out on over-30month animals in meat plants since January last, but 40 cases have been uncovered by 11,085 tests on sick and casualty animals.