A big cheer arose in the National Disease Centre in Dundalk yesterday morning when Department of Agriculture staff heard that the preliminary test results from the farm in Rivers town, Co Louth, were negative.
There was an air of hope in the area and people were walking about with a pep in their step, a Togher farmer, Mr Johnny Butterly, noted.
"There's a massive relief. I didn't believe it when I heard it," he said. "People were ringing each other all morning as soon as they heard."
Had the results been positive, the Cooley peninsula would have been devastated. "The Cooley sheep are unique," he said, adding that some may now survive. But farmers were not out of the woods yet, he warned. "We won't be able to fully relax until 45 days after the Proleek incident."
Some of the fear had been taken from farmers' faces, said another farmer, Mr Jim Lennon. "People were very fearful. It's certainly a great relief," he said. Farmers were taking things a day at a time. Ms Patricia Sheelan, who runs the post office and shop in Riverstown, said you could see the relief in people's faces. "It's just brilliant. It's the only thing people are talking about here."
People were not forgetting the sadness of the cull, but they were delighted to have some good news. "It's the first bit of good news we've got in a while. We are still cautious but it's really brilliant news."
Mass-goers in the local church had just said a prayer to St Oliver Plunkett for good results when they heard the news. "Is it really true?" they asked each other as they left the church, two miles from the farm at Piedmont where the case was suspected.
A relieved Mr Tony Keenan was having a celebratory lunch with his family at the Riverstown Mill yesterday. "It was a hard couple of days," he reflected. "It was a worry for everybody. We are glad that it's all over. Hopefully that will be the finish of it."
Asked if he feared that the follow-up results might be positive he said: "I like to be hopeful." He said the family had not slept much in the past few nights, but there was "plenty of time for sleep now".
Some 134 sheep were slaughtered on Mr Keenan's farm, but he hoped his remaining stock could be saved. He still has about 200 sheep and 70 cattle on a separate holding. "I'm a happy man now," he said yesterday.
