The Agriculture Minister says investigations into the BSE scare will focus on cattle feed.
Tests are expected to confirm the presence of mad cow disease in a 5-year-old dairy cow which died on a farm in Co Louth - with the results likely to be known next week.
Minister Simon Coveney says the mother of the animal was imported - and his Department will probe whether she was infected with the disease.
However, he says the use of banned meat and bonemeal feed will be at the centre of the probe.
