Preliminary results of tests on a sheep found to have a blister on its lip at Irish Country Meats plant in Navan, Co Meath, should be known tomorrow.
The animal, from a farm at Kilcogy near the Cavan border with Longford, sparked a major operation. A small number of staff and farmers who had been at the plant when the animal was found were kept overnight in a Navan hotel.
The remaining staff who had no contact with the animal were sent home and told not to report for work yesterday. The plant was sealed off and disinfecting procedures put in place immediately.
Tissue samples from the animal initially could not be sent to London yesterday because of the Aer Lingus dispute, but were eventually taken to Heathrow Airport by another airline. The samples are being examined at the Pirbright laboratory.
Department of Agriculture staff indicated they were not unduly concerned at the condition of the animal involved and the samples had been sent as a precautionary measure.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, said Garda inquiries were ongoing into the tracing of sheep despite the reticence of the people involved. He said the authorities were now getting information on movements.
Meanwhile, the Northern Minister for Agriculture, Mrs Brid Rodgers, who was in Dublin at a North-South Ministerial Council meeting with the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, repeated she was satisfied that all the so-called "missing sheep" from Britain had been accounted for.
From information she had received, the outstanding number of sheep imported from Carlisle before the first outbreak at Meigh, Co Armagh, had been reduced to 40 and all of those had been slaughtered, she said.
She said her officials were satisfied the sheep were all accounted for and slaughtered at three locations: Meigh, in Athleague, Co Roscommon, and on a farm in Co Meath.
She told a press conference that, luckily, the Northern authorities had immediately stopped the importation of animals from Britain when the disease was confirmed there.
"That was crucial because had we not done that we would probably not have ended up with just a few hundred missing sheep but a thousand or a few thousand," she said.
In a joint communique, the ministers said the council meeting, which was also attended by Mr Sam Foster, the Northern Ireland Minister for the Environment, had agreed on the importance of an island-wide approach to tackling foot-and-mouth.
They also agreed to exchange all relevant information in respect of animal movements; to encourage the public and farmers to continue to follow the advice being given and to liaise closely on the prevention of the importation of susceptible animals.
The statement said the council had decided to develop a strategy for the control of animal movements on the island of Ireland, drawing on the work done in both jurisdictions and in light of the experience gained from the crisis.
Mr Walsh said they were looking at ways to put in place a full traceability system, North and South, by sharing information.
However, Mr Foster warned both ministers to stay clear of politics when Mrs Rodgers said there was a demand in the North for the labelling of Northern meat as "Irish or Northern Irish", but the UK Health mark would have to remain because they were part of the UK.