The Minister for Agriculture has called on farmers to introduce more stringent measures to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
Speaking in Brussels, where EU agriculture ministers were meeting, Mr Walsh said controls at Irish ports were as good as possible.
"We are insisting that all access points between North and South and between Britain and Ireland have disinfectant baths and mats. I would urge individual farmers to introduce similar measures at their farms," he said.
The Minister said it was too early to say whether Irish players and supporters should travel to Cardiff on Saturday for a rugby international against Wales.
And he said it was for British authorities to decide whether the Cheltenham Festival should be held this year.
Mr Walsh said all travellers between Britain and Ireland should understand that it was up to them to ensure the disease did not spread. "I'm sick of hearing people saying they didn't report to the authorities on arrival," he said.
Riot police clashed with protesting farmers outside the agriculture ministers' meeting, and the streets around the Council of Ministers building were closed for much of the day.
The ministers discussed a seven-point plan proposed by the Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, to reform the beef market in the aftermath of the BSE crisis.
Mr Walsh rejected the Commissioner's proposal and called on his fellow ministers to implement the destruction and intervention measures agreed last year.
The British-Irish Inter parliamentary Body expressed concern yesterday about the lack of precautions against foot-and-mouth disease at Cork Airport, Michael O'Regan writes from Killarney.
A number of British MPs attending the meeting of the group in Killarney noted that they had come through Cork Airport without any obvious measures being in place.
The Conservative MP, Mr Stephen O'Brien, said there were no visible precautions against foot-and-mouth at the airport when he arrived on Sunday.
"I came from an area which is now in the exclusion zone, because of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth, but there was nothing at the airport, or no sign or disinfectant tray to walk through," he added.
