A meat plant in Co Wexford has been closed following the discovery of three sheep displaying symptoms of foot-and-mouth disease.
The Irish Country Meats plant at Camolin was closed last month following a suspect outbreak but the results proved negative.
The Department of Agriculture say they are not especially concerned and that samples taken from the sheep have been sent to testing laboratories in Purbright, Surrey.
Sheep displaying symptoms similar to those associated with foot-and-mouth disease at a Monaghan farm have proved negative for the disease, it emerged today.
A spokesperson at the Department of Agriculture told ireland.comthe sheep, which were culled as a precautionary measure, had ORF disease which is a treatable condition but induces symptoms similar to foot-and-mouth.
Another farm in county Monaghan has also been restricted as a precaution because the farmer owned lambs which grazed on land in Ardboe, Co Tyrone - the location of one of the two latest outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in the North.
Sheep at this farm did not display symptoms of the disease.
The Department of Agriculture has also suspended the use of marts as collection points for animals due to be slaughtered.
The temporary ban, which came into effect yesterday, follows the suspension of imports from Northern Ireland, reinforced last Friday after the discovery of two fresh cases of foot-and-mouth disease in Ardboe, Co Tyrone and near Cushendall, Co Antrim.
Only livestock with permits can be imported into the State until the ban is reversed.
The EU export ban was lifted in most of Northern Ireland two weeks ago as the disease had not recurred but was rescinded following the discovery in Antrim.
Officials had believed they had succeeded in containing the disease after the only other instance of foot-and-mouth in Northern Ireland found six weeks ago in a flock of sheep at Meigh in South Armagh.
The Minister for Agriculture Mr Walsh has today urged farmers here to keep up disinfection procedures and to ensure their farms are secure following the outbreaks in the North.