There are 80 million fowl in the State made up of 67 million chickens, 6.6 million hens, 3.9 million turkeys and 2.7 million ducks, according to the most recent statistics. Because of the avian flu threat, the location of every bird is known to the Department of Agriculture.
Under a ministerial order made last year, every flock in the country, be it commercial or a few hens being kept in backyards for private egg production, has been registered. In all, there are almost 8,000 such flocks, just under 1,000 of which are commercial.
In what is one of the most heavily regulated sectors in the agri food industry, birds are raised for meat and to lay eggs, and there is also a network of breeding flocks and hatcheries to support these, in addition to egg-packing stations and the poultry slaughter and processing sector.
The main concentration of production is in the Monaghan/Cavan area and there are approximately 850 farms involved. Some 250 produce table eggs, 430 rear poultry for meat and there are 170 breeding farms.
The number of people employed in primary production and processing and in linked services would be about 6,000.
There are more free-range egg producers in the State than farms operating cage systems to produce eggs, though 1.3 million hens are kept in cages and 600,000 are free range. These would be the first producers hit by a ban on keeping birds outdoors.
According to Pádraig Brennan, of Bord Bia, there has been a drop in recent years in the amount of chicken Irish people consume, but 122,000 tonnes of poultry meat is eaten here annually.
At 30.5kgs per capita annually, poultry meat has been accounting for 32 per cent of the meat consumed in Ireland up to the end of 2005.
Latest figures for exports of Irish chicken showed 80,000 tonnes was exported in 2005 worth an estimated €260 million. About half of the exports went to the UK and the rest to the Continent.
Some 55,000 tonnes of poultry meat were imported, 28,000 of which came from the UK, 10,000 tonnes from the Netherlands 3,000 tonnes from France and 2,000 tonnes from Italy. Under 5,000 tonnes came from non-EU countries and when it was allowed export to the EU, about half of this came from Thailand.
Producers fear outbreaks of avian flu in any part of Europe because it hits consumption. When bird flu was reported in Scotland in a wild bird last year, Irish consumption fell by 20 per cent but has recovered strongly since then.