A de facto exclusion zone has been erected tonight around the County Louth farm at the centre of the latest foot and mouth scare. While this is said to be a precautionary measure it is the first time such a controlled area has been established in the Republic. Preliminary results from suspect a sheep are expected in the morning.
Earlier 150 sheep were destroyed on the farm in the Jenkinstown/Ravensdale area of North County Louth after a suspect sheep was discovered in the flock. The farm is about four miles from the farm in Meigh in County Armagh. Vets are puzzled because there is nothing to show that these animals were imported from the UK or in contact with imported animals. There is speculation that if the disease has reached the flock it may have been airborne.
Initially it was thought that there might have been eight suspected cases in the flock however Department of Agriculture Officials have now confirmed that only one sheep was suspect. Blood and tissue samples have been sent to Purbright in England and results are expected tomorrow morning.
There has been a ban on livestock movement in County Louth since the suspicion was raised about the flock. Permits for the movement of animals will not be issued until the all clear is given.
Progressive Democrats Senator Mairín Quill has called on the Government to appoint a Minister for Food to full Cabinet rank, independent of the Department of Agriculture. Speaking on a Private Members Motion on Food Safety, Senator Quill said that it was long overdue for the Government to display leadership on food safety. She said that there was no better way to do this than to have a Minister at the Cabinet table to deal with the issue.
In a separate development, the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs has clarified the position of people who are laid off due to FMD precautions. The Department says that applications for unemployment benefit are decided in the same way as other applications and each case is decided on its own merits.
The North's Agriculture Minister, Bríd Rodgers, has announced a gradual easing of restrictions placed on the movement of livestock because of the foot and mouth crisis. Ms Rodgers told the Northern Assembly that new guidelines would be issued tomorrow.
The President of the Ulster Farmers' Union, Douglas Rowe, who met the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, yesterday, said that he hoped Northern Ireland could be declared a disease-free region if there were no more cases 30 days after the outbreak in County Armagh. Mr Rowe said that this would only be a start towards the industry's recovery.
While the European Union veterinary experts have extended their ban on British livestock and meat exports until 4 April Britain's Agriculture Minister, Nick Brown, has said that there is every hope that Northern Ireland could be a disease free zone where controls could be lifted. There has been only one case in the North, in south Armagh, in the last three weeks. Mr Brown told MPs at Westminster that it should be possible to regionalise the export ban.
