The foot-and-mouth scare in Co Carlow may lead to the cancellation of a protest by tillage farmers from all over the country scheduled for tomorrow in Carlow town.
While preliminary results from samples taken from 12 pigs suspected of having the highly infectious disease have so far proved negative, the full results are not due until tomorrow.
An IFA spokeswoman said last night that its officials will be meeting Department of Agriculture and Food veterinary experts later today to determine whether or not the protest at the closure of the Carlow sugar factory should take place.
"We are hopeful that the protest will go ahead but we will not take any chances and will be guided by what the Department of Agriculture experts tell us," she said.
The results of the first tests carried out on the 12 pigs from the Ballon, Co Carlow meat factory, were given to Irish officials yesterday morning.
These preliminary tests were for antibodies in blood and also a viral DNA test which were found to be negative at the Pirbright laboratory which is the world centre for the identification of foot-and-mouth disease.
The centre is still running final tests on samples taken from the animals and these will determine whether or not the pigs are suffering from the disease.
While the results of these final tests are outstanding, the factory in Carlow and the farm from which the pigs originated, which is close by, will remain under severe restriction as they have been since midday on Friday.
The Department of Agriculture and Food confirmed that in addition to the sealing off of the factory and farms, there had been close inspections of the factory, all stock on its adjoining farms and on a farm owned by the factory.
Animals on farms adjoining the piggery from which the animals originated, were inspected three times over the weekend to ensure that there was no clinical signs of the disease.
The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Ms Coughlan, welcomed the preliminary findings from Pirbright.
The farm organisations also welcomed the positive news and the Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture, Mr Denis Naughten TD, said the whole country was glad that we had not been brought back into the dark days of 2001.
"This scare brings the issue of our bio-security back into focus, and the need for the Minister for Agriculture to take immediate pro-active steps at EU level to outlaw risky practices which could threaten our animal population.," he said.
Mr Malcolm Thompson, president of the Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers' Association said the results were a reminder that we must remain vigilant against imported food and livestock that does not have the same traceability as our own product.