Samples from three sheep in Co Cork with suspected symptoms of foot-and-mouth have been sent to the UK for testing, the Department of Agriculture said. But a spokesman for the Department said it was not "overly concerned at this stage".
Separate tests on eight people in Britain feared to have contracted the disease after exposure to ill animals have proven negative. Foot-and-mouth was not the cause of their illness, according to UK authorities.
The suspect ewes were found during a standard veterinary inspection on Thursday of a farm at Watergrasshill, near Cork city. Samples were sent yesterday to Pirbright laboratory in Surrey. Results are not expected until Monday or Tuesday.
Results from another suspected case, at Dunleer, Co Louth, are also expected on Monday. However, the Department says it has "no concerns" at this stage about this case, a sheep from a flock of 140.
It had been thought the Cumbrian slaughterer Mr Paul Stamper (33) contracted foot-and-mouth when he swallowed fluid from an infected carcass while taking part in a scheme in North Cumbria to slaughter thousands of livestock. He has been given the all-clear and officials at the Public Health Service Laboratory said eight people had now been cleared of contracting the disease. Tests on five others continue.
The North may not be declared free of foot-and-mouth until the autumn, its Agriculture Minister has said. Mrs Brid Rodgers told the Northern Assembly's Agriculture Committee that the extensive testing her Department was carrying out on all sheep might not be completed until the autumn.
Mrs Rodgers told the committee the North was "not out of the woods yet".
All UK ports with car ferry and roll-on roll-off services to the State have had mechanised spraying equipment delivered, to disinfect vehicles, the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey, has said.
The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, said further heritage sites can be reopened. Ceide Fields, Ballycastle, Co Mayo; Scattery Island, Co Clare; and JFK Arboretum, New Ross, Co Wexford, are already open.
From May 1st, Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin; Ardfert Catherdral, Co Kerry; as well as Newgrange and Knowth monuments, Co Meath will be open. Open on May 4th is Portumna Castle, Co Galway, and Coole Park, Gort, Co Galway is open on May 6th.