A meat plant near Gorey in Co Wexford has been sealed off as a precautionary measure the Department of Agriculture confirmed this afternoon.
A spokeswoman for the Department said samples had been taken and would be sent off for testing. She said the measure was purely precautionary and there was no report of any animal slaughterings at the Irish Country Meats plant in Camolin, near Gorey.
She could not confirm the reason for the move which is reported to have followed the discovery of a suspect lamb from a local farm.
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Minister for Agriculture, Mr Joe Walsh
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Earlier today the Department said the outbreak of foot-and-mouth in France, thought to have been caused by 10 sheep imported from Co Carlow, has been traced to a French layerage.
The Department believe the Irish sheep, exported to a farm in Mitry-Mory in north-west France, came in contact with infected sheep from Britain when they were rested at the layerage after they arrived in France.
Speaking this afternoon, the Minister for Agriculture Mr Walsh also said initial tests from farms in counties Wexford, Carlow and Laois were all negative, while the four farms under restriction in Co Meath were all confirmed as being free from foot-and-mouth.
Mr Walsh also indicated that investigations into how infected animals on the farm in Co Louth came in contact with the disease where ongoing and that the Garda, the Special Investigation Unit and the Department were working together.
"With regard to the outbreak in Proleek, no hard information as to how the outbreak occurred has been found," the minister said.
"It is extremely difficult, when you are dealing with smuggling and illegal activity, to trace animals," he added.
Mr Walsh said to date nearly 16,000 animals have been slaughtered as a result of the disease prevention measures introduced since the outbreak in Co Armagh. There are now than 740 farms remain sealed off across the country.
He also confirmed that slaughtering had begun in a 1 km-wide corridor between Meigh Co Armagh and Proleek in Co Louth.