Department plays down risk of bird flu spreading to Ireland

AS FEARS grow of bird flu spreading to Europe, Department of Agriculture vets have said that the risk to Ireland remains low and they are monitoring poultry closely.

A strain of the potentially fatal H5N1 virus, which infects poultry, has already spread into Russia and Kazakhstan and could reach Europe if it were to spread with migratory birds.

Dutch authorities have responded by keeping all their chickens indoors so they can't pick up the virus from wild fowl.