The Department of Agriculture today announced there were 9 cases of BSE last week and insisted its measures to control the disease were working.
The Department said there had been 25 cases reported since the beginning of the month, bringing the total for 2001 so far to 92.
A spokesman for the department said the age profile the latest cases, which revealled no animals under five years old, showed the control measures were proving effective.
He added that 209,042 animals aged over 30 months have been tested between 2nd January, 2001 and 16th August.
A breakdown of the 9 cases revealled this week showed there were three cases in Co Cavan, two six year olds and one five year old. Co Cork had one 15 year old and one seven year old while Co Tipperary had two five year old cases. Co Wexford had one nine year old case and Westmeath had one five-year-old case.
A technical delegation from Egypt, which has been refusing to take Irish beef since the European BSE crisis in November last, is due to issue a recommendation soon to its government whether the £200 million annual trade in beef with Ireland should resume this autumn.