The European Commission has lifted the EU ban on meat exports from the North, triggering one of the largest police operations since last year's Drumcree disturbances.
Hundreds of police officers will be drafted in to staff checkpoints and roving patrols after the EU Standing Veterinary Committee did not oppose the application to have the ban lifted.
The Agriculture Minister, Ms Brid Rodgers, later announced that movements of livestock into and out of the Newry and Mourne District Council area would be restricted. "Meat and milk products for commercial trade can move out of the Newry and Mourne area only under the authority of an official certificate, and all milk collected from farms in Newry and Mourne can only move out of the area in sealed tankers under authorisation from the Department for shipment to Britain," she said.
She said there would be no restrictions on the movement of meat, meat products or milk products out of the area for personal consumption as from yesterday. Such products will have been sourced outside the area.
Existing movement restrictions continue within the Newry and Mourne area and within the two surveillance zones around farms in Cos Armagh and Louth.
