Irish cats would have to be kept indoors to prevent them from catching avian flu, Minister for Agriculture and Food Mary Coughlan said yesterday.
The Minister had been asked by journalists what would happen if cats here were to pick up the disease from ill or dead infected birds as had happened in Germany.
The Minister said the advice would be to keep cats inside homes to prevent them having contact with infected birds.
While there has been an increase in the number of telephone calls reporting dead birds to the Department of Agriculture, there was relief in veterinary circles here at the news the sole Scottish H5N1 infected bird was a migrant.
Initially, it had been thought the swan found dead in Cellardyke Harbour had been a native Mute swan.
Yesterday, Scottish officials said the infected bird was a Whooper swan and it may not have had contact with the native Mute swans which live in Scotland and do not have migratory patterns.
Whoopers breed in Iceland, Scandinavia and northern Russia and spend the winter in Britain and parts of continental Europe.
The swans also winter in Ireland, mainly on the west coast but would already have left the country for their breeding grounds.
Scottish officials believe the bird may have wintered in continental Europe and died making its way back to Iceland to breed.
The Department of Agriculture confirmed the vaccination of exotic birds with the H5N2 strain of avian flu had been carried out.