The Department of Agriculture has rejected criticism that it should financially assist farmers for income loss because of restrictions imposed on them to prevent the spread of "swamp fever" in horses.
Equine infectious anaemia struck Ireland for the first time last year and there have been 28 cases that led to restrictions on 53 separate premises, 28 of which have now been lifted.
There are also movement restrictions on 1,200 individual horses, the majority of them on premises where their owners were advised by the department to ensure they were isolated from contact with other horses.
Last week, the Irish Farmers' Association's horse project team met department officials seeking financial assistance, saying the restrictions were causing severe income losses, especially to those running commercial stables.
Tim O'Regan, the project leader, pointed out the restricted horse owners were innocent parties and should be supported because the restrictions were necessary to safeguard the future of the entire Irish horse industry.
But yesterday a department spokesman again rejected this demand, saying restrictions were being lifted as quickly as possible.
"Our role is to rid the country of disease and we are confident of doing that. We have carried out over 40,000 tests for it in horses since June last," he said.
"Where we seek a test we pay for it and we are supporting the horse owners and the very important industry in this way," he said.
He said he expected that this mandatory testing to eradicate the disease would conclude by the end of January.