The European Commission has announced that Northern Ireland will be exempted from an EU-wide ban on the export of livestock and meat products from Britain due to last Friday's outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at a Surrey farm.
The "holding" ban introduced with immediate effect covers live cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, as well as fresh meat and dairy products.
A commission statement outlining details of the ban yesterday said "no live animals susceptible to [foot-and-mouth disease], or products from these animals, can be dispatched from Great Britain. Likewise, other member states cannot send any such live animals to Great Britain".
But in a specific reference to Northern Ireland, the statement said: "Live animals and animal products will still be allowed to be dispatched from Northern Ireland to other member states, so long as they carry the appropriate health certificate and the responsible veterinary authority in the country of destination is given three days' advance warning."
The Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan, said yesterday said that, as matters stand, the outbreak in Britain poses no threat to the holding of agricultural shows around the country.
She said she was "acutely conscious" of the number of shows taking place at this time, including the Dublin Horse Show and the Tullamore Livestock Show. There was "no reason" why any agricultural show could not proceed.
As part of her department's public awareness campaign, advice for the organisers of such shows was being provided, along with advice for airline and ferry passengers travelling from Britain, she added.
EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou yesterday said the EU Commission regards the outbreak in England as an "isolated incident".
"It appears that the virus did not occur naturally, but was a leak from a specific vaccine-processing institute, and has not spread," he said. "We do not see any danger for the rest of Europe."
Under the measures announced by the commission, certain products may still be exported from Britain. These include animal products produced before July 15th, products subjected to heat treatment and products derived from animals reared outside Britain.
The commission praised London's response to the crisis, which saw British prime minister Gordon Brown and environment secretary Hilary Benn cut short their holidays to deal with the problem.
British authorities were yesterday continuing to examine whether the outbreak in the Surrey farm was caused by a biosecurity leak from the nearby Pirbright Laboratory, which is licensed to use the foot-and-mouth virus.
Fine Gael's spokesman on agriculture and food, Denis Naughten TD, yesterday called for the establishment of a dedicated national biosecurity committee. This would "continually review" all available information to eliminate risky behaviour or practices which could let disease such as foot-and-mouth into this country, he said.
"The probable leak of virus from such a facility should not happen under any circumstances and we must now review all procedures and practices in this country where potentially serious diseases are being handled in laboratories.
"Rather than having an ad hoc committee on various diseases, which meets infrequently, we must establish a national biosecurity committee", he said.