The Department of Agriculture has expressed relief after today's news that preliminary results on the suspect foot-and-mouth case in the North were negative.
The North's Agriculture Minister, Ms Bríd Rodgers, said the results on samples taken from a dairy herd in Ardboe, Co Tyrone, were negative. She said final results on the tests are expected in the next four to five days.
Samples from heifers at a pedigree dairy farm near Cookstown were examined overnight in Pirbright International Laboratory in London. Eighty per cent of the 20 suspect animals had shown symptoms of the foot-and-mouth disease.
"The plan announced by Ms Rodgers and Mr Walsh last week for an all-island agenda is facilitated by the fact that there are no cases on either side of the border," Department of Agriculture spokesman Mr Paul Savage told ireland.comtoday.
Expressing her delight with the results, Ms Rodgers said: "We are on the verge of having regionalisation applied to the whole of Northern Ireland and a bad result in this case would have meant the re-imposition of export restrictions on all for the forseeable future."
But Ms Rodgers warned that vigilance must be maintained.
"That is particularly so in the approaching holiday period when visitors will be coming here from Great Britain. These visitors are very welcome provided the necessary precautions are carried out and there is no contract with livestock. At the moment, complacency is out worst enemy," she said.
Mr Savage also warned the watchword is still caution and reminded people to ensure all the required measures are maintained. Final results on samples taken from two lambs in Bray are expected on Tuesday and no other samples have been sent for testing.
He said the Department is now looking towards getting to April 19th without any further cases when it hopes the European Commission will lift the trade restrictions on Co Louth and those imposed on the North.