Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture has been criticised for allowing massive illegal sheep importation which resulted in the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
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A report into the outbreak of the disease said there were "inadequate controls" which allowed tens of thousand of sheep supposedly going straight to slaughter to meat plants to disappear, apparently on to farms.
The report, by PricewaterhouseCoopers, alleged "systematic abuse" of animal import licensing legislation.
During 2000 and in the early part of 2001 the movement of sheep was halted when foot-and-mouth was discovered. More than 60 per cent of lambs shipped to Northern Ireland for slaughter failed to arrive at their designated meat plant.
The report stated: "Effectively 35,000 lambs imported into Northern Ireland - allegedly for slaughter - cannot be satisfactorily accounted for."
The report concluded that the importation of sheep from the Longtown Market in Carlisle introduced the disease to Northern Ireland causing the first outbreak at Meigh in Co Armagh.
The source of infection for outbreaks two at Coagh, Co Tyrone and three at Cushendall, Co Antrim, remained unknown, but epidemiological data strongly suggested they were caused due to the illegal importation of sheep from Britain in the period prior to the first outbreak in the North.
The outbreak of the fourth outbreak, also in Coagh, was linked to the other outbreak nearby and was a result of secondary infection - probably through personal contact, said the report.
The report also said action taken with an immediate ban on trade movements of livestock between Northern Ireland, Great Britain, the EU and other countries once the disease had been discovered in England - even before it was confirmed in Northern Ireland - had prevented chaos in there.
The ban "cocooned Northern Ireland from a potentially catastrophic foot-and-mouth disease epidemic", it said.
In the end Northern Ireland escaped with just four confirmed cases which resulted in the slaughter of just over 50,000 animals.
The trade ban allowed veterinary staff to concentrate on eradicating the disease that was already present and prevent the spread to other areas. But is said it was "critical of inadequate controls that permitted the illegal importation of sheep on a massive scale".
PA