Tough laws to deal with illegal trading and smuggling of animals, based on legislation going through the Oireachtas, is likely to be introduced in the North, the Minister of Agriculture, Ms Brid Rodgers, said yesterday.
At a joint press conference in Dundalk with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Mr Walsh, she said she would be asking her Executive colleagues to bring in similar controls in the North to have a co-ordinated approach.
She said she and Mr Walsh had an in-depth discussion on the illegal trading activities which had now surfaced and she said there would be a tightening up.
"This will have, of course, to be done within the North/South Ministerial Council, in particular, as it would require a coordinated approach," said Mrs Rodgers.
Both said they were disturbed at the level of illegal smuggling activity which had been detected because of the investigations but they were both satisfied the infected animals which had been imported had all been traced.
The Ministers said they had decided to work on a consistent approach to cross-Border trade and move away from the ad-hoc situation which had existed since the crisis began, when different standards were being applied on different sides of the Border.
Mr Walsh announced that there were 573 farms in the Republic under restriction pending monitoring but the Republic was still free of the disease and it was hoped that it could be kept that way.
It also emerged there were three more farms which may have had contact with locations where animals were imported.
The final results from a Dunleer, Co Louth, farm are expected later today, but all the initial results so far indicated there was nothing to worry about in these cases.
Mr Walsh said he was aware of the public pressure to ease the restrictions but the time was not yet right and they would have to wait for 31 days after the confirmation of the Meigh case in Co Armagh.
He also said he would examine complaints from farmers and the public about the importation of potatoes from England and Scotland.
The Minister also announced new controls on the movement of horses which can now be moved only under permit for the purposes of foaling, breeding, emergency veterinary treatment, import/export/movement abroad and other exceptional reasons approved by the Minister.
Mr Raymond O'Malley, chairman of Louth IFA, complained that the Minister did not appear to have time to meet farmers from Louth who live in the exclusion zone around Meigh and who have had no income since the outbreak.
The Irish Hotels Federation said there was now a strong case for demanding compensation from the Government for losses it expected to face.
The chief executive of the federation, Mr John Power, said 20,000 of the 60,000 jobs in the hotel sector were at risk because of cancellations.
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