"You can't let your guard down," says Andrew Boylan, whose poultry farm is only 16km from the latest outbreak of bird flu in Co Monaghan.
The latest cases were detected in a flock near Clontibret, close to the border with Northern Ireland. It is the third confirmed outbreak in less than a week.
Strict biosecurity measures have been working so far, but Mr Boylan said the virus is getting "closer and closer to us all the time".
There is restricted access to his farm and vehicles that do enter the farmyard have the wheels cleaned and sprayed with disinfectant.
When Mr Boylan visits the chickens, which are kept in houses year round, he takes more precautions including changing his shoes at the entrance and again as he enters their house.
"We grow what we call broiler chickens. Chickens for meat, so they are indoors at all times, but even at that, we cannot guarantee that we won’t have diseases here," he said.
Mr Boylan said he can't emphasis enough how important the biosecurity measures are.
"It’s fairly simple. You have to repeat the bio measures, day in, day out."
"I cannot emphasis often enough. You must repeat it day in, day out.
"You can’t let your guard down at any time."
He said the current situation is very worrying.
"At the moment, it's probably the worst case we have ever seen. The flu has come across northern Europe in 2025."
He said in previous years, particularly 2024, it was in the south of Europe.
"But here in Ireland, we never had an outbreak in November, and we've already have had several outbreaks between the Republic and Northern Ireland," Mr Boylan said.
