The Minister for Agriculture has set up a top-level advisory group on avian flu - similar to a committee established during the foot and mouth crisis five years ago.
Minister Mary Coughlan also advised owners to plan now for the eventuality that compulsory housing of poultry will become necessary.
The minister said she was appointing the expert group because of the increased risk of the virus spreading to Ireland, following its arrival in several European countries.
The ten-member group is chaired by UCD's Professor Michael Monaghan, who also headed up the crisis committee during the foot and mouth emergency in 2001.
The announcement came as a third case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu was detected in Austria, in a swan found dead near the southern city of Graz.
Earlier, the Greek agriculture ministry confirmed that two more wild swans had tested positive for avian flu, bringing the total number of cases in the country to six.
The two dead swans both came from northern Greece.
One was found in the sea one kilometre from the waterfront of the port city of Salonika, the second in a coastal area 90 kilometres east of the city.
