'The people in this area are very resilient. They will survive'

Noel Carroll (60) is a sheep and cattle farmer in Riverstown, Co Louth. He and his wife, Mary, have four children, two of whom live at home: Rosaleen (14) and Shane (25), who works full-time on the farm.

The Outbreak

"Three or four years ago, a criminal element got involved in sheep importation. The Garda∅, the customs, the IFA and Department of Agriculture knew about this, but a blind eye was turned because the Celtic Tiger was going full blast at the time. Our main gripe is that the Department of Agriculture took no cognisance of the endemic diseases in the border counties of England and Scotland. The Department of Agriculture has a veterinary service in \meat processing\ factories, it is their job that we don't import disease here. Nothing was done until the whole economy was in jeopardy."

The Cull

"I lost 618 sheep. When you lose your standing flock in a self-contained sheep area, it is analogous to a laser beam being swept across your brain and your skills being neutralised.

"I am an upland sheep farmer with an enclosed flock indigenous to the area. I nearly lost my 100 cattle, because first, the culling corridor passed along my front entrance; secondly, it came along my back entrance; thirdly, it hit my bottom field; and fourthly, in the Jenkinstown area, they asked for farmers to volunteer their animals for killing.

"Each time, I was like a little rabbit afraid of my life. But, a near miss is as good as a mile."

The Impact

"There were quite a lot of genuine stories of farmers with minds in turmoil and hearts heavy, losing their livelihood and flocks of sheep dating back to their grandfather's time, but there was a lot of sham too. The media coverage of the Cooley's turned into a freak show. All the uplands sheep are gone, and farmers will now have to establish hefts [hefting is a practice on commonage where sheep become acclimatised to an area and need very little shepherding] from bought-in sheep. This is a very labour-intensive task which older farmers and farmers with off-farm jobs will find very difficult.

"What we took for granted will now take continuous shepherding: to get stocks established on traditional grazing areas. A further complication is that these sheep will not have immunity to local diseases . . . and that if every farmer tries to restock in the same months, this will lead to disturbances between neighbouring stocks. Those who took their skills, families, sheep and mountains for granted sold themselves short."

The Community

"When Joe Walsh and Bertie Ahern flew into the area in their helicopters, they were not looking down on poverty. Many farmers have developed their land, built new houses and new sheds, and while they may not have much money in their pockets, it's a good farming area and a way of life. Yet, I think the foot-and- mouth will have ramifications for the area in the years ahead. It was a tragedy of the greatest magnitude. Schoolteachers and children were crying as the farmers brought their animals to be killed.

"Yet, the people in this area are very resilient. They will survive."

Getting back to work

"I am halfway to restocking my lands. Yet, I'm down £35,000 for this year alone. And for next year, I will have half my ewes production curtailed."