The easing of foot-and-mouth restrictions announced yesterday by the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, was given a wide welcome by sporting, cultural and farming organisations.
Horse-racing is to be permitted on a limited basis from April 16th under strict conditions laid down by the Expert Group monitoring foot-and-mouth controls.
The Minister, at his daily briefing, said the normal fixture list of racing could apply from April 19th as long as there was no further outbreak of the disease on the island of Ireland.
He also announced that horses from countries not affected by the disease could be allowed back into the State from April 9th. Permits could be issued to allow horses to be imported from non-restricted areas in other member-states, except Britain.
The Minister said this would be of great assistance to owners, especially in the North of Ireland, who wanted to bring their mares to the Republic to be made pregnant.
A significant development was the immediate lifting of a ban on the movement of fodder. This is vitally important as Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, said yesterday there was a buildup of 300,000 calves and older store cattle on 30,000 Irish farms.
Mr Walsh said that, subject to the protocols agreed with the Expert Group and the completion of training of operatives, the artificial insemination service could resume in the week of April 16th.
In a move to ease the cost of sending small loads of animals from farms to factories for slaughter, Mr Walsh decided that, subject to agreement on a protocol with the marts group, marts may be used as assembly points for animals going to slaughter from April 16th.
He said that in certain cases farms which had been depopulated because of outbreaks of brucellosis or BSE could apply for permission to restock their lands.
The repopulation applications would be dealt with on an individual basis.
There was a broad welcome for the easing of the restrictions from the farm organisations and from Teagasc, which predicted that the build-up of stocks on farms could be as high as 500,000 head before any relaxation of current movement restrictions.
Mr Bernard Smyth, the Teagasc chief beef adviser, said the difficulties on farms were being compounded by a late spring, with grass growth at least two weeks later than normal.
He urged farmers with surplus stock and a fodder shortage to purchase concentrate feed rather than hay or silage to bridge the gap until grass was available.