I attended an excellent beef technical seminar and tour last week in Co Laois, run by the Agricultural Science Association.

A second outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease is suspected in the protection zone in Surrey, England, a spokeswoman for Defra confirmed tonight.

The spectre of the foot-and-mouth epidemic that brought chaos to Britain six years ago returned tonight when a fresh outbreak was confirmed.

Cattle in southern England were tonight found to be infected with foot-and-mouth.