Precautionary restrictions were placed on a farm north of Dundalk, Co Louth, late last night. Samples were being taken from a sheep flock on the land there.
A Department of Agriculture spokesman said it was the first time in over a week that samples had been taken from sheep, but he stressed the restrictions were merely precautionary.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland said last night it had examined what it termed as a "cold suspect" case of foot-and-mouth referred to in the Assembly yesterday.
A DANI spokesman said Dr Ian Paisley had said there was a suspected case in Ballymena. However, DANI vets had described it as a "cold suspect" which was unlikely to have the disease.
Meanwhile, The Irish Times has had sight of the contingency plan to combat the disease should it arrive in this State. It gives powers to veterinary officials which are more potent than those of the Garda.
Yesterday, as the number of cases in the UK soared to 379 and the British army was called in to help with disposal of the carcasses, a suspected case of the disease was being examined in the Netherlands.
In this State 645 farms are still under surveillance but there are no suspect cases. It was learned yesterday that the Australian authorities have lifted their ban on Irish produce.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, hailed this as a sign that "efforts being made to prevent a foot-and-mouth outbreak here are being recognised abroad - with positive effects on our export trade".
He said Australia "is an important destination for certain milk products".
The Foot and Mouth Disease - Contingency Plan for Ireland was drawn up in April 2000, with EU approval.
It provides an £11 million fund to deal with an outbreak under the General Disease Control and Eradication Scheme. Money which would be used for eradicating bovine TB and brucellosis would be diverted to fight foot-and-mouth disease.
The bovine TB eradication scheme and the brucellosis schemes are currently suspended because of the Meigh outbreak.
The contingency plan would give wide powers to Department of Agriculture veterinary officials in the event of an outbreak, powers more potent than for the Garda should they require them.
Under Section 42 of the Animal Disease Act of 1966, veterinary inspectors "will be given all the powers available to the police force to execute the Act."
One of those powers, under Article 7 of the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Order of 1956, is to "restrict the movement of persons, animals, carcasses or things" to prevent the spread of the disease.
The document, which is reviewed periodically, sets out the structures to be followed in the event of an outbreak and specifies that the Minister for Agriculture would take full responsibility.
The document also specifies that Ireland has 100,000 doses of vaccine available in a laboratory in Britain.
In Malaysia and Singapore, media reported yesterday that 20 children had been infected with hand, foot and mouth disease in the province of Johor Baru, in south Malaysia.