The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan is revoking the ban on the participation in Irish shows, exhibitions and other gatherings of birds imported from Britain.
Ms Coughlan said that the decision to revoke the measure, introduced early last week, was taken after the publication, by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in London, of an interim epidemiological report into the recent outbreak of H5N1 avian 'flu in Suffolk.
Defra also confirmed that they were rescinding their British-wide ban on all poultry gatherings, other than in the restricted area around the Suffolk turkey farm, which was introduced in the immediate aftermath of confirmation of the presence of the virus.
Minister Coughlan confirmed that the ban on British birds in Irish shows and gatherings had been a natural extension of and consistent with the British ban and was introduced at the same time as a similar ban was introduced in Northern Ireland, as part of an all-island approach to the threat posed by the closer proximity of avian 'flu.
Neither of those bans extended to birds on either side of the border and birds from both sides of the border were free to participate in shows and gatherings anywhere on the island.
