A poultry farmer in east Cork has warned "it will be devastating" if there are more outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza on commercial farms.
The latest outbreak of the virus was detected in a flock on a farm near Kells, Co Meath.
A 3km protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone are in place around the site.
It follows the confirmation of a bird flu outbreak on a turkey farm in Co Carlow on Tuesday, which was the first outbreak in a commercial poultry flock in Ireland since 2023.
Robert Fitzsimmons, who has 3,000 turkeys on East Ferry farms in Cork, said bird flu is in the "wild and nothing is going to stop it".
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
"There's nothing we can do but take precautions and do our best but it will be devastating for businesses if more flocks get it," Mr Fitzsimmons said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Fitzsimmons said the focus is on turkey farms, but added that if the virus gets into chicken farms, it could be "very serious for the food chain".
Read more:
What is bird flu and how concerning is the spread?
He said "safety comes first" and farmers have been taking every precaution to protect their flocks and human health.
"There's nothing we can do, only change our clothing, not let anybody in or out, disinfect our boots going in and out, we're able to turn on the augers for feed on the door, so we don't have to go drawing bags in and out or anything like that. So we're doing our best," Mr Fitzsimmons said.
"Farmers are doing everything they possibly could not to get contaminated or contaminate humans," he said.
Mr Fitzsimmons said he lives in the flight path of migrating birds and his flock has been housed indoors since October, around four days before the official announcement of bird flu at Fota Wildlife Park.
"My vet told me that birds from Fota had been brought for testing," he said.
He said the birds are "happy indoors", "have lots of room" and are "playing on bales of straw".
Mr Fitzsimmons said he may have to slaughter his flock early.
He said they normally processes the turkeys around the second week in December.
"We would like to get that time, to get them fat, get the flavour," he said.
Mr Fitzsimmons warned it could get "very serious" for the supply of Christmas turkeys if there are more outbreaks.
