The Department of Agriculture has described as "ultra-precautionary" the vast majority of restrictions in place on more than 576 farms across the State.
Restrictions can be placed on a farm with an animal suspected of having the disease, on a farm where animals are thought to have been in contact with a suspected animal, and on a farm to which the Department has traced imported animals, it says.
In these cases, movement of animals will be restricted while they are inspected by the Department. Farms to which a contact or imported animal has been traced are restricted, not on the basis of having suspected cases, but to observe the animals for symptoms. The cluster of restricted farms in Co Roscommon is unique, according to the vice-president of Veterinary Ireland, Mr Sean O Laoide, because of the network of people working at the Kepak plant in Athleague.
The Department says where there is a suspicion of foot-and-mouth, strict restrictions are enforced immediately. No animals or machinery are allowed to move on or off the farm. Gardai and the veterinary laboratory are informed.
The farm remains closed until the animals are proved negative for the disease. A disinfecting team is brought in. Anyone coming off the farm is disinfected, their clothes removed, packed away and sent for washing or, preferably, dry cleaning. All equipment and instruments are left, while food and other supplies will be brought in.
Department veterinary inspectors are continuing to monitor farms in three western counties, following the slaughter of 308 sheep at a farm outside Claremorris, Co Mayo. Sixty farms are being monitored in Galway and five in Mayo. The carcasses of the 308 sheep on the farm at Maltpool near Claremorris were transported to Co Monaghan yesterday for rendering, according to Mr John Magee, superintendent veterinary inspector for Mayo.
Blood samples from the animals would be frozen at the Department's laboratory in Abbotstown, Dublin, he said, and would only be sent for further testing to Britain at the direction of the Department. The slaughter was "purely precautionary" and was carried out under EU regulations, because the animals were imported from Britain or Northern Ireland after February 15th.
Mr Magee said the sheep had not been in contact with any livestock affected by foot-and-mouth disease and showed no signs of infection. There were indications that some ear-tags had been removed.
He said the incidents last week at the Kepak processing plant in Athleague and the Kildare chilling plant had led to a "whole raft of tracings", which had been taken in order of priority. The main areas of concentration in relation to Kepak were in Co Roscommon, but 60 farms in Galway and five in Mayo were also under "mini-restriction". The Galway farms were either owned or had been visited by hauliers, farmers, veterinary inspectors or staff who had been in the Kepak plant. Three of the Mayo farms related to Ath league, and two had been visited by farmers, hauliers or inspectors who had been in contact with the Kildare chilling plant. Co Carlow also remains under observation resulting from the importation of British sheep to a farm in Myshall on January 20th, before the outbreaks in Britain. Tests have been carried out at the farm but at this stage there has been no evidence of foot-and-mouth. There have been similar observations in six locations in Co Carlow, connected to the Myshall case.
These cases are classified as high-risk, indicating the known movement of an animal or person from the Myshall farm to these locations. Three cases which are also connected to the original importation of stock at the Myshall farm are regarded as low risk. This classification relates to incidents where a vehicle or private vet may have moved between the locations.
Six further cases in Co Carlow are under observation as a result of their connections with Kildare chilling plant, which was closed last week following delivery of sheep which may have originated in the North.
The slaughter of 1,200 sheep at a farm in south Monaghan on Monday was a "precautionary measure", the Department spokesman said. The flock was destroyed after the farmer had informed the Department that a lorry which had been at the centre of a foot-and-mouth scare in Mayo had been on his property in recent days.