Extreme vigilance will be required by the Irish authorities to ensure that the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, identified last Tuesday in England, does not spread to this State. Should the disease manifest itself here, it could spell ruin for many farmers and do untold financial damage to the agricultural sector. The viral disease affects cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and deer and it is so contagious that herds are slaughtered out as a means of preventing its spread. On the last occasion there was an outbreak in this country, sixty years ago, more than 41,000 cattle were slaughtered and the export of all farm produce was proscribed. The Government has responded with commendable urgency to news of the outbreak. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Mr Walsh, immediately imposed a ban on the importation of all live animal and animal products, including fresh meat and meat products, milk and milk products, hides and skins from Britain and Northern Ireland. Departmental staff and members of the Garda will enforce that ban at ports and airports in relation to food imports. And the Minister has urged members of the public to exercise particular caution and to avoid visiting farms, particularly in infected areas.
Close contact is being maintained with the British and Northern Ireland authorities in order to monitor the extent of this outbreak and to identify possible vectors of contagion. As things stand, the outbreak appears to be confined to a single pig processing plant and to an associated cattle farm in the South of England. But a possible link to Northern Ireland may now exist. A truck from the North delivered pigs to the plant this week and brought back a consignment of sheep. At the moment, the health of those sheep is being monitored and the movement of the truck, which might conceivably be a source of infection, has been plotted. Incubation of the disease takes three days and so the status of the risk from Northern Ireland should be known before the weekend. On the last occasion there was an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in this country, in 1941, it spread from an infection source in Northern Ireland.
There are fairly regular outbreaks of the disease in the Middle East, in Asia and in Africa. And, last year, it occurred in Greece. Humans can be infected through the handling of a diseased animal, but the resulting illness is only temporary and mild. A serious outbreak of the disease in Britain would have major consequences here, not because of our ban on British farm produce but because of the knock-on impact disease controls might have on travel and commerce between the two States. On the last occasion there was an outbreak in Britain, in 1967, the Government restricted all cross-channel passenger traffic to 4,000 people a day, as part of a successful attempt to contain the disease. Since then, trade, tourism and all sorts of freight traffic to the Continent have increased exponentially. It would be extremely difficult to establish an effective system to identify and disinfect possible sources of contagion. But the need for such a system is compelling, in order to protect our food industry which is worth about 10 per cent of GDP. Last year, the beef industry alone was worth more than £1,000 m. A clearer picture of the nature of the threat posed to farmers and to our economy will emerge over the next few days. In the meantime, all citizens must be particularly vigilant because of the enormous consequences an outbreak of the disease would have for our society. The matter will be discussed by the Standing Veterinary Committee of the EU, in Brussels, next Tuesday. By that time, the scale of the threat and the measures required to deal with it, should have been established.