Agreement has been reached between British port authorities and Irish officials over improved disinfection procedures in continued efforts to keep foot-and-mouth out of the Republic.
The Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources Mr Fahy said today the British port authorities had agreed in principal to the installation of automatic vehicle-spraying equipment for vehicles embarking for Ireland.
Following the EU Commission decision Britain must disinfect the wheels of vehicles leaving the country, British port authorities have relied on mats rather than the more expensive but more effective spraying method.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Irelandtoday the Minister said: "The 19th of April is the key date. It is vitally important now that we have the best possible disinfectant procedures in place at the point of embarkation and at our own ports."
"We have been concerned that at the situation at the some of the ports have been a bit patchy and we have had discussion with the authorities in the ports about the use of equipment that is now being used in the Irish ports [automatic vehicle spray]."
Mr Fahy said the Government has told British authorities it would pay for the spraying equipment he estimated would cost between £75,000 to £100,000.
The ports involved are Heysham, Liverpool, Holyhead, Fishguard, Swansea and Pembroke.
He said he hoped full agreement would be reached during talks with British port authorities. He added it was difficult to estimate how long it would talk to get the spray equipment into operation but that they would be installed urgently.
The Minister said the Government was pursuing an intensive campaign to get people to visit Ireland from Britain.
He said: "In angling were are especially anxious to bring visitors over here. We are producing today a list of hundreds of safe angling places. We want to be of as much assistance as possible to ensure that we can guarantee safety against transmission of this disease through our ports."
Meanwhile preliminary tests carried out on a sheep from the Irish Country Meats Plant in Navan have proved negative. Final results are expected on Wednesday.