State may be given all-clear in weeks

If no animals show signs of foot-and-mouth disease by the end of this month, the Republic will almost certainly be free of the disease, according to the European Commission.

The EU's Standing Veterinary Committee is confident that the outbreak in Britain will peak by the weekend. Once two incubation periods of 15 days each have passed without a case of the disease, the Commission will declare the crisis at an end.

In the case of the Republic, the 30-day period can be measured from the last movement of animals from the UK into the State. But the Commission warned this calculation did not take into account the risk of illegal imports or wind-borne transmission of the virus.

The Standing Veterinary Committee confirmed yesterday that it was banning the movement of animals susceptible to the disease within the EU. Animals may be driven directly to slaughter or from farm to farm, but only with the prior knowledge of the authorities. "We want to have a clear view throughout the next two weeks of the movement of animals in the Union," a spokesman said. The Commission believes that traceability is the key to containing the outbreak within the UK. The spokesman denied that the restrictions would lead to a shortage of meat.