The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, has called on the authorities North and South to resolve "emerging differences" about the source of the foot-and-mouth outbreak in Co Louth.
Mr Quinn said in a statement last night that any lack of clarity surrounding the source of the outbreak would only add to the concern of worried communities. "The Department of Agriculture in the Republic insists that this outbreak is a secondary outbreak to that which occurred in Co Armagh," he said.
"However, the authorities in the North are taking a more sceptical view. Northern Agriculture Minister Brid Rodgers expressed concern today that the period of 21 days between the two outbreaks indicates that there may be other, intermediate sources of infection as yet unidentified."
He said there was speculation that not all of the sheep in the consignment that caused the original outbreak at Meigh, Co Armagh, had been accounted for. "Given the level of smuggling that we now know was going on, there must be serious concerns that at least some of these sheep are in the Republic and posing a further threat."
He called for a concerted effort by the authorities, North and South, "to establish the source of the Proleek infection and to trace any missing sheep from the Carlisle consignment so that they can be slaughtered and any threat removed".
Meanwhile, the Labour Party has called on the Government to ensure that carcasses of slaughtered animals are disposed of in an environmentally safe manner. "It is essential that we take steps to ensure that what is now an animal health disaster does not create new and avoidable environmental problems," the party's environment spokesman, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said yesterday.
Mr Gilmore called on the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, to issue guidelines or regulations on the disposal of carcasses. "The decision of the authorities here to bury the carcasses raises certain environmental questions that must be addressed by Minister Dempsey," he said.