State faces once-in-a-generation threat - Ahern

The Taoiseach Mr Ahern has warned the Republic is facing a "once-in-a-generation threat" from the outbreak of foot-and-mouth and urged everone to co-operate fully with precautionary measures.

Mr Bertie Ahern

Speaking in the Dáil this morning Mr Ahern said: "The potential impact of the foot-and-mouth crisis disease on our agriculture and food industries would be on a scale few of us could imagine.

"It threatens the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families who earn their living either directly and indirectly from farming and the food industry.

"For this reason we must continue to address this threat with absolute determination and vigilance."

He said new measures have now been introduced to fight the possible spread of the disease from the case in Armagh confirmed yesterday.

These include extra gardaí and Army personnel along the Border; the installation of disinfectant systems at every public office; the cancellation of avoidable farm visits by State agencies and postponment of gatherings of large groups of people.

All the main St Patrick's Day parades in Ireland have been cancelled.

Postal deliveries to farms will only be made where they provide a disinfectant mat, he said, that the Department of Agriculture would distribute information leaflets to all farmers advising them of safe practice and signs of the presence of foot-and-mouth disease in their livestock.

Mr Ahern said the Government had taken "aggressive action" to establish whether the disease had reached the Republic when first alerted about the outbreak in Britain and has imposed stringent measures to keep it out.

Daily cross-agency meetings have been held involving officials from the various relevant Government departments and a huge security operation has been launched, Mr Ahern said.

The Taoiseach also moved to allay fears for public health posed by an outbreak.

"I am advised that very occasionally people can get mild respiratory symptoms from contact with infected animals but people cannot become infected by eating meat from such animals."