The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has urged its members in the west to keep livestock off commonage where possible, following complaints of wandering sheep in parts of Connemara.
The IFA's regional development officer, Mr Roy O'Brien, said that it was aware of animals wandering free in the past few weeks during the foot-and-mouth crisis. However, some of these animals may have been grazing on commonage which was not fenced, he said yesterday.
"Up on the hills it is not such an issue, but tourists and members of the public who see animals on roadways may not understand that they are being kept on common land," Mr O'Brien said. An attempt to fence commonage some years ago had failed and was a very sensitive subject, he added.
"Our advice to those farmers who do have a certain amount of enclosed land is to keep their livestock where possible on that," he said.
Mr O'Brien is the IFA representative on the Galway county emergency response committee, which was established some weeks ago to deal with the threat posed by foot-and-mouth.
The committee has repeated its appeal to farmers to keep disinfectant topped up and restrict farming activity where possible. The response from members of the public had been "overwhelmingly supportive," he said.
The committee is chaired by Mr Brendan Heneghan, chief agricultural officer with Teagasc, and includes representatives of the Garda, the Department of Agriculture, farming organisations, Galway County Council, veterinary practitioners, livestock marts, agribusiness interests and the Western Health Board.
