Ireland remains on high alert over FMD

Ireland remains on high alert after foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was detected in cattle on a farm in southern England.

Today the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan, again urged farmers to be vigilant and to check their animals for any signs of the disease.

Speaking on radio this afternoon Ms Coughlan said that the "only good news" is that authorities in Britain appear to know where the source of the disease has come from.

She said her department was awaiting the results of a British investigation into how the strain of FMD had come from a laboratory before changing any of the bio-security measures that have been implemented.

A ban on the importation from Great Britain of live cattle, sheep, pigs and goats as well as fresh meat, meat products, raw milk and other animal products from such animals has been put in place.

The minister also said that all ports and airports have been supplied with disinfectant mats.

Ms Coughlan said she was working on an all-island approach to stop FMD and that her Stormount counterpart Michelle Gildernew had implemented the same bio-security measures in Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile, president of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) Padraig Walshe, said it is "astonishing" that the strain of FMD appears to have come from a laboratory in England.

He said it is a "huge embarrassment for the laboratory and the UK government".

Mr Walshe said that although the British government had moved a lot quicker this time around, compared to the 2001 outbreak, he urged farmers to "remain on alert".

Meanwhile, European Union officials may give Northern Ireland special regional status to export beef and other goods following its response to the Surrey foot and mouth outbreak, it emerged today.

Stormont Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew was hopeful that officials in Brussels would recognise the joint action taken by the NI Executive and the Government to protect themselves from FMD.

She revealed: "We have raised this issue with our counterparts in Defra, with the Irish Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan and I have also spoken to the First and Deputy First Minister (the Reverend Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness) about it.

"Ian Paisley talked both to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern about it and was on standby to speak to the Agriculture Commissioner in Brussels about it yesterday or today if it was thought we were not going to get this regional export status.

"It is hugely important. We have just had an export ban lifted. We did not want another one.

The NI Executive and the Government places no restrictions on the movement of livestock across the border.

Additional reporting PA