New enhanced measures to improve biosecurity and reduce the risk of the spread of bird flu to Irish poultry have been announced by the Department of Agriculture.
A case of H5N1 avian influenza virus was detected in a buzzard in Co Galway.
Dr Eoin Ryan, Head of the National Disease Control Centre within the Department of Agriculture, said the bird was found by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and taken to a regional lab for testing.
It is common practice for dead birds, particularly birds of prey, to be tested for bird flu.
"We are in the higher risk period for avian flu now," Dr Ryan said.
Up until the discovery of the buzzard with H5N1 virus, Ireland was the only area in Europe where bird flu had not been detected this winter.
The new regulations announced by the Department of Agriculture today stipulate that the flock keepers must apply biosecurity measures for poultry and other captive birds to prevent outbreaks of bird flu.
"Biosecurity is the most effective way to prevent an outbreak in poultry," Dr Ryan said.
"The regulations effectively make best practice mandatory, he added.
They come into effect tomorrow, Friday, 6 December.
The biosecurity measure involves taking necessary steps to prevent the spread of any virus in the environment by, for example, ensuring wild birds cannot get into sheds where captive birds or bird food is kept.
During the winter months, the risk of avian flu increases for two reasons.
Dr Ryan explained: "First migratory birds come to Ireland and can bring the virus with them, the other is that in colder temperatures, the virus can survive for longer providing more opportunities to be passed onto an animal."
In the past few weeks, three cases of bird flu in poultry were discovered in England and in more than 50 wild birds as well as several cases in wild birds being found on continental Europe.
Dr Ryan stressed there is no food safety risk for people consuming poultry or poultry products such as eggs.
He also said that it is very important that the general public does not touch a dead or dying bird.
Instead, they should report the bird to the Department of Agriculture and where they saw it.
