Sinn Féin is changing tack on its Government formation negotiations by meeting officials from State departments, its chief negotiator Pearse Doherty has said.

The Government now finds itself at odds with commissioner Helen Dixon’s agency for the second time in less than a year.

Almost 50,000 contaminated pigs have already been slaughtered as a result of the dioxin scare that led to the withdrawal of all Irish pork and bacon products late last year.