Permanent unit for animal protection urged

Reaction:The Labour Party spokeswoman on Agriculture and Food, Mary Upton, has called on the Government to set up a permanent bio-security unit to provide maximum protection against threats posed to Ireland by animal diseases in the future.

"Given the continuing threat to human health and the economy generally from animal diseases, there is now a strong case for the Government establishing a permanent biosecurity unit to provide maximum protection against threats of this nature."

She welcomed the preventative measures put in place by Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan but felt "it may be necessary to draft in additional staff to allow a proper checking of persons arriving at air or sea ports".

"We can draw some comfort from the fact that, unlike in 2001, the British government appears to be taking the matter seriously and has acted quickly to impose controls," she said.

The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation said it fully supports the measures being taken by the Government. Chief executive Eamonn McKeon said the impact of foot-and-mouth disease was potentially devastating for the €5 billion tourism industry. "The knock-on effects of the outbreak in 2001 were enormous and extremely damaging."

Michael Barry, director of the Irish Dairy Industry Association, the IBEC group which represents the Irish dairy processing industry, said: "Irish dairy processors are ready and prepared to implement whatever control measures are necessary and await guidance from the expert committee of the Department of Agriculture and Food.

Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association president Malcolm Thompson asked "all farmers to once again take every precaution to ensure that their biosecurity measures are observed and to pay careful attention to any guidance from the Department of Agriculture".

He welcomed the "all-island" approach as being the most practical one, but stressed the importance of thoroughly checking all animals that arrived in Northern Ireland during the last month from the UK, as many of them, especially lambs, found their way to abattoirs in the Republic.

Cormac Healy, director of Meat Industry Ireland, the IBEC group which represents the meat-processing sector, urged continuing vigilance. "It is important that there is no complacency given the huge importance of the €3.5 billion beef, lamb and pig meat sector to the Irish economy," he said.