There were cautious celebrations throughout the State yesterday with the announcement that the preliminary foot-and-mouth tests from Co Louth and Wexford were negative.
At his daily press briefing the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, stressed that these were preliminary results and it would be some days before the full findings would be known.
Samples from sheep in Laois and Wexford, carried out at Abbotstown, were also negative, and all results from last weekend's cullings had proved to be negative.
However, he said, samples taken from sheep in Waterford and Kilkenny had been sent to the Pirbright Laboratories yesterday as a precaution, and in line with the surveillance his Department was carrying out.
The precautionary cull in Co Louth, around the Proleek farm and up to the Border south of Meigh, Co Armagh, had involved the slaughter of 23,722 sheep, 600 cattle, 69 goats and 15 deer. This work had been virtually completed.
"Following today's negative results, experts have advised that a voluntary cull take place in the remainder of the Cooley peninsula. I strongly urge the flock owners there to offer their flocks under this voluntary scheme," he said.
"They are susceptible animals and as long as there are sheep on the Cooley mountains, with the extent of fragmented holdings and the commonage in the mountains there, there is going to be a risk."
He said the arrangements so far were attracting quite an amount of co-operation from the farmers concerned because they were getting full market value for the animals. They were co-operating in the interests of containing the disease to the peninsula.
The tracing of sheep which were imported from Northern Ireland before the ban was imposed on February 21st was continuing, he said; 4,505 sheep and 360 cattle had been slaughtered outside Co Louth.
He said that as of yesterday, 565 farms were restricted by the Department while investigations continued. But in the month since investigations began, 345 farms had been derestricted.
He said they were still in a period of extremely high risk and he was very nervous as it was only eight days since the confirmed case in Co Louth and the virus could incubate for at least 28 days. The country must remain on high alert.
For that reason, he said, the movement of animals from farms to marts, or to other farms for sale, could not be allowed because the primary source of spreading the disease still remained animal to animal.
Prof Michael Monaghan, who chairs the expert committee on controls to prevent the spread of FMD, said he had held a series of meetings with racing and farming organisations yesterday where they had outlined their difficulties. He would be reporting to the Minister on these matters.
Asked about Aintree, Mr Walsh said he was advising owners not to take horses there, and punters not to travel to the festival. The resumption of racing here would depend on the advice given to him by the expert committee.
In the Netherlands the agriculture ministry confirmed an 11th case of foot-and-mouth yesterday at a cattle farm in Oene in the east, near where two earlier cases were found. The farm was already under suspicion as it was within two kilometres of the two other sites.