There has been tangible change in the Cooley Peninsula since the confirmation a year ago of foot-and-mouth disease in a flock of sheep at Proleek.The cost in emotional and financial terms is hard to put into words and certainly for many farmers, the compensation element remains controversial and most importantly, unresolved.
Despite the toll which the outbreak and subsequent culling had on tourism as well as agriculture, there has been light at the end of the tunnel.
"People are now ringing the gardaí if they see a truck that seems to be suspicious or if they are concerned that smuggling or something else is happening; that never happened before foot-and- mouth," said one senior garda.
Regular Garda checkpoints are still being operated in north Louth, especially close to the Border. There are also additional inspections by Department of Agriculture officials as a result of the minority of farmers who were not completely honest.
While the bona-fide farming community tolerates this, it is viewed as a direct result of the veil of secrecy around rogue farmers being lifted as a result of the outbreak.
Driving through the Cooley mountains on the first anniversary of what could have been the worst economic disaster for the country, the meadows are green and free of grazing flocks.
Teagasc adviser Mr Jim Malone estimates that about 50 per cent of the 270 farming families who lost their flocks in the cull have returned to sheep-farming. However, there are still only about 10,000 sheep back on the mountains, a quarter of what was there before the outbreak.
Reflecting on its impact, he says: "A lot out there suffered as a result of a few, that is the reality. It was a terrible trauma for everybody yet they all spoke of when they would get back [to sheep farming\]. "
The timing of the Proleek outbreak was nearly as tragic as the outbreak itself, says farmer John Elmore. "The outbreak of FMD in the UK meant that Irish sheep were worth more. Of all the years to be out of production."
His name has become synonymous with the Cooley Compensation Campaign. The group is preparing its High Court challenge to the compensation offered by the Department to 77 farmers.
Mr Elmore believes many people, including some Department officials, were aware of or suspicious about claims by some of the so-called rogue farmers. "Their presence was used as a strategy to blacken us after we had been done an injustice in the evaluation," he claims.
For fellow farmer Noel Carroll, who lost 618 much-prized pure-bred sheep, it has been a difficult journey. He has restocked with 300 sheep. "Any real sheep men are back farming to some extent, they made the effort immediately."
Tourism was the other major industry to be affected by foot- and-mouth. The funding for marketing and promotional campaigns to attract new business to all of Louth, not just Cooley, meant the year was not lost, according to Harry Lynch, managing director of Midland East Regional Tourism.
"About half a million pounds was put into promoting the region and we were lucky that the outbreak came early enough in the year to avoid hitting the peak season. People I have spoken to were happy enough at the end of the day and there was no devastation."