The Republic should prepare for the possibility of a bioterrorism attack, the US Secretary of State for Health and Human Services said yesterday in Dublin.
The US was purchasing smallpox vaccines and tightening security at laboratories, and the Republic "should consider getting prepared", Mr Tommy Thompson added.
The Irish Government has developed a plan and purchased smallpox vaccines and antibiotics for use against a bioterrorism attack, according to a statement from the Department of Health and Children.
Mr Thompson was in Dublin yesterday to open BioIreland 2002, a two-day North-South and international conference on the global biotechnology industry.
He said he would raise the bioterrorism issue with the Tánaiste and with the Ministers for Health and Foreign Affairs.
"I am going to offer assistance to the Minister for Health and meet with your foreign minister," he said yesterday. "I am going to offer our assistance."
He described the preparations being taken in the US as "biopreparedness" against attacks using biological, chemical or radioactive materials. "I believe a bioterrorism attack is possible," he said. "We are getting pretty much prepared for it."
The US Congress has agreed an allocation of $1.1 billion to be handled by his department.