They’re off!

MORE than ten million burgers have been taken off supermarket shelves following the horse meat fiasco.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has vowed to resolve the night-MARE after minced nag was found in Tesco, Dunnes, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland ‘beef’.

He said it was “important for our reputation” to resolve ‘Horsegate’ quickly — while burger jokes became a hot topic on the internet.

Meanwhile TV pundit Eamon Dunphy also bridled at the notion he might have gobbled a gelding, explaining: “I’d hate to eat Shergar.” The 67-year-old has a holiday home in France — where horse is on the menu.

And he urged the Government to rein in its regulation of the food system after the debacle.

He said: “It is shocking. People are right to be angry, they deserve to know what is in their food. Answers are needed. The buck stops with the Department.

“You wouldn’t like to think they have regulated the food system the way they regulated the banking sector.”

Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore had earlier told the Dail that the results of the burger tests were known last Friday.

However the details were not passed to the Department of Agriculture until a meeting on Monday of this week.

He said that “the implications were evaluated and discussed” at that time.

DOZENS of jokes about horse burgers were doing the rounds yesterday.

While many people are appalled, thousands of Twitter users saw the funny side. Here are a few to make you giddy-up...

— Just after eating a Tesco burger, it was good to soft in places.

— I had a burger earlier, now I’ve got the trots.

— I tried the Aldi ones but I prefer my Lidl pony!

— I think people who don’t like the thought of eating horsemeat are being a bit blinkered.

— What do you call a burnt burger? A Black Beauty.

— I shouldn’t have gone for a run after my burger at lunchtime, I really struggled over the last two furlongs.

— To beef or not to beef, that is equestrian.

— Was going to give up fast food but fell at the final hurdle.

— Can I have mane with cheese, please? And stirrup the relish.

— Breaking News: Traces of zebras found in Tesco barcodes.

— Horsemeat is an essential part of a stable diet.

— I hear now that the horse meat was smuggled into Ireland by a mule.

— I had a burger last night. I woke up this morning with a bit in my mouth.