Restrictions imposed on the Newry and Mourne district are to be lifted on April 19th, it was announced last night following a meeting of the EU's Standing Veterinary Committee. Provided no further cases of foot-and-mouth are discovered and blood tests on sheep are negative, the area will be given the all-clear two weeks earlier than expected.
The North's Minister of Agriculture, Mrs Brid Rodgers, praised the efforts of her chief veterinary officer, Mr Bob McCracken, who was engaged in negotiations in Brussels throughout yesterday. "I think this is excellent news considering that we were possibly looking at a 30-day period before we could resume," she said.
Meanwhile coach-hire companies in the North said they were facing bankruptcy because of the foot-and-mouth crisis. Some 20 drivers travelled to Stormont to lobby MLAs to back a media campaign aimed at luring the public back into the country.
Private coach-hire firms in Northern Ireland were losing £650,000 a week and faced financial ruin unless immediate action was taken, Mr Declan McBride, head of Derry firm JMB Tours, said yesterday.
"We are not looking for compensation. We want the government to react a bit better. We want them to put an advertisement on TV saying Northern Ireland is open and you don't have to cancel events," he said.
As coach companies were unrepresented by any trade organisation, their plight had been largely ignored by the government, Mr McBride said. "Because we don't have a lobbying body I spent two days phoning through the Yellow Pages."
The Minister for Regional Development, Mr Gregory Campbell, advised the drivers to establish a trade affiliation to promote their case.