Results are expected today from a suspected case of foot-and-mouth in Co Louth. However, Department sources have said the tests on a sheep were only precautionary. Results are also expected this week from tests on three sheep in Co Cork.
The Government's expert group on foot-and-mouth will meet today to discuss a possible easing of restrictions of animal movement on and between farms. They will also discuss whether general restrictions on movement such as hill-walking and travel should be eased.
Samples from a sheep on a farm near Dunleer, Co Louth, which showed symptoms of the disease, were sent last week to Pirbright laboratory in Surrey.
Meanwhile, senior members of the RUC, who recently took early retirement as part of the Patten proposals to reduce the size of the force under the Belfast Agreement, have been recruited by the North's Ministry of Agriculture.
It is believed the officers have been recruited on short-term contracts to boost the investigation into livestock fraud and smuggling, which has been uncovered by the foot-and-mouth crisis.
The recruitment of the officers, who include former fraud squad members and those who investigated terrorist crime, was sanctioned by the Minister of Agriculture, Ms Brid Rodgers, it was reported. Nineteen people are under investigation for alleged illegal activities, including subsidy fraud.
In the State, results from samples taken from three sheep in Co Cork, which showed symptoms of foot-and-mouth, are expected tomorrow or Wednesday, said a spokesman for the Department. The ewes were discovered last Thursday during a standard veterinary inspection of a farm near Watergrasshill, north of Cork city.
Samples were sent to Pirbright on Friday morning. A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said they were sent as a precautionary measure and they were not "overly concerned". The sheep flock in Co Cork has not been slaughtered.
Farming organisations last week met the expert committee, chaired by Prof Michael Monaghan of UCD, to discuss protocols to be put in place to facilitate safe animal movements.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association the Irish Cattle Traders' and Stock owners' Association and the Irish Farmers' Association have all said they were concerned the issue had been delayed until now.
Large volumes of stock are building up on farms because movement is allowed only from farm to slaughterhouse.
The ICMSA has said the expert group will today consider the operational problems relating to on-farm investment schemes. Mr John O'Connor, chairman of ICMSA's farm services and environment committee, said: "Many farmers are waiting to begin work, but this is being delayed as they are unable to get grant approval.
"I am now confident a written approval procedure will be put in place quite soon that will allow farmers to get grant approval without a farm visit." Meanwhile, the Fine Gael spokesman on public enterprise and tourism, Mr Jim Higgins, said thousands of jobs would be lost and enterprises would go out of business unless the Government introduced financial measures to assist tourism.