Irish Precaution for Foot-and-Mouth

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Irish Precaution for Foot-and-Mouth

August 9, 2007

By Paddy Clancy

IRELAND’S world-famous Dublin Horse show got under way this week, as did agricultural shows throughout the country, despite a heightened foot and mouth alert raised by an outbreak of the disease in England. Irish horse racing authorities also said it was “business as usual” although the scare in Britain is being closely monitored in Ireland.

And in a “Fortress Ireland” approach Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern and the North’s First Minister Ian Paisley agreed there must be full cooperation between their two administrations to ensure the disease does not reach any part of the island of Ireland.

With a $2.8 billion beef and cattle trade to protect, as well as a $9.6 billion food and drink exports market to protect and 250,000 jobs in farming and processing, Ahern and his ministers insisted all sensible precautions were being put in place.

Both north and south banned imports of all live animals from Britain and vehicle and foot-passenger disinfectant mats were installed at sea and air ports.

While there is no formal restriction on cross-border movement of animals, there is minimal movement of people, animals and vehicles on, off and between Irish farms.

Both the Republic’s Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan and the North’s Michelle Gildernew and their officials were in constant contact to devise and review strategies to safeguard agriculture throughout Ireland.

Gildernew said, “We battened down the hatches and ensured we took whatever precautions we could to try and stop the spread of the disease coming into Ireland.

“We have mirrored closely what is happening with the Department of Agriculture in the south in order to create a fortress Ireland approach and to ensure that we are protecting the island from foot-and-mouth disease.”

She added, “There is a barrier of water there, the Irish Sea, to try and ensure that we keep the disease at bay. We are taking whatever precautions are being taken in the 26 counties to ensure that we not only keep the disease out but keep trade links with the rest of the island going.”

Coughlan gave the go-ahead for the Dublin Horse Show and other agricultural events after talks with her counterpart in London, Hilary Benn, who gave a firm assurance that the British government was doing all in its power to contain the outbreak within a small area of Surrey where the disease was identified and several hundred cattle culled on an affected farm.

Tests were expected to confirm that the infection arose from a nearby laboratory leak of the virus that causes foot-and-mouth.

The alert prompted opposition party demands in Ireland for enhanced biosecurity.

Fine Gael Agriculture Spokesman Denis Naughten called for the establishment of a national biosecurity committee that would strive to eliminate “risky behavior or practices which could let diseases such as foot-ant-mouth into this country.”

He said there must be a review of all procedures and practices where potentially serious diseases were being handled in laboratories in Ireland.

Naughten advocated the establishment of a special national committee to “keep a vigilant eye on emerging threats throughout the world and ensure all possible steps are taken in Ireland to prevent an outbreak of deadly diseases such as, for example, foot-and-mouth or avian flu.”

During the last outbreak of foot-and-mouth in Britain in 2001, when some infected animals slipped through security cordons into the Republic, the economy suffered greatly.

Protective measures then included cancellation of tourism, and sporting and cultural events and much of the countryside was placed out of bounds for walkers, anglers and hunters.

Improved measures to protect agriculture in both Britain and Ireland following the 2001 outbreak included special licensing arrangements and severe penalties in a crackdown on “cowboy” farmers, food processors and smugglers.

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