TAOISEACH Brian Cowen announced a €180 million contingency State fund for pork processors and pig farmers just after 12.30am this morning. The fund will cover the pork products recalled at the weekend due to the dioxin scare and will lead to the reopening of factories this afternoon.
The money will be also used for the slaughter and destruction of infected animals.
Mr Cowen said he would be working with the EU and processors to get the €1 billion industry back on its feet again. Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith will travel to France later today in an attempt to revive export markets.
Irish pork products had already began to return to shop shelves in limited quantities yesterday.
The return of Irish product to the market will involve certification by veterinary and health officials that the pigmeat was not fed on contaminated feed and after a new label is issued by An Bord Bia.
Yesterday's all-clear for Irish pork from the European Food Safety Authority further eased the public health aspect of the crisis. It said there was "no concern" for human health arising from average consumption of Irish pork since the start of September, even if 10 per cent of the meat was contaminated.
Two men based in the Republic have been identified as middlemen in the supply of contaminated oil from Northern Ireland to the feed recycling plant in Carlow at the centre of the pigmeat crisis, according to Garda sources.
The Garda's National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is working on the case, believe their account of what oil product they procured from a Co Tyrone plant and how they sold it on to Millstream Recycling will be vital in determining if low-grade oil entered the supply chain as a higher-grade product.
Representatives of Millstream have already been spoken to by gardaí and have told officers they paid for, and believed they had received, oil of the quality needed to comply with safety standards. In a statement yesterday morning to newspapers, the firm said: "Millstream has only ever purchased oil from a legitimate supplier in the Republic."
The Police Service of Northern Ireland, liaising with the Garda in the investigation, has been joined by officers from the Environment Protection Agency of Northern Ireland at a business premises in Co Tyrone.
Sources close to the cross-Border investigation believe the oil used in the food recycling facility was contaminated with oil from electricity transformers that contained PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).
Superquinn and SuperValu said they would stock limited amounts of Irish pork from today, and some butchers are already selling the product after Department of Agriculture or local authority vets sanctioned processors to release it.
Mr Smith said all the necessary controls were in place to enable those involved in the industry to resume the supply and sale of Irish pigmeat products.
All certified products will carry a label saying they have been approved by the department and An Bord Bia.