The Department of Agriculture is retesting all animals imported from Britain since November 1st for bluetongue disease as anxiety about its arrival here is growing.
The department has already started tracing animals imported from Northern Ireland since January 11th because of the discovery of the disease there last week.
So far, according to a Department of Agriculture spokesman yesterday, no trace of bluetongue has been found in any of the animals tested.
There is growing concern in the Republic following the news that the Northern Ireland authorities have killed and destroyed 30 animals on the Co Antrim farm where the disease was identified in an imported animal from the Netherlands. That animal was destroyed, but subsequent tests found the disease in four more animals and, as a precaution, the authorities destroyed all the imported beasts.
In the Republic, cattle which have already been tested for the disease, which is spread by midges in warm weather, will now have to undergo a second test.
Meanwhile, the department spokesman yesterday urged the farm organisations to consider imposing a voluntary ban on imports of cattle from infected areas in Europe.
He said that an outbreak of the disease would cause major difficulties for the entire industry here and the best way to prevent its arrival was to stop importing animals from areas where the disease had been found.