Bird flu fears: Don’t ring after 9pm or at the weekend

THE Department of Agriculture hotline for reporting suspected cases of the deadly bird flu virus is not manned at weekends or after 9pm on weekdays, it emerged yesterday.

It was also claimed that many of the State’s frontline agencies have not been briefed on how to handle suspected cases.

Hungary yesterday became the latest country to confirm the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain. The virus, which has killed more than 90 people, has also been found in dead swans in France, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Greece and Italy in the last 10 days.

Dave Deegan, who found a dead swan on Monday, described the department’s communications policy around avian flu as “pathetic” and “ridiculous”.

“Shortly after lunchtime, I rang the gardaí to ask how I could get the bird tested but they didn’t know what I should do. They suggested ringing the city council but they didn’t know what I should do either. I ended up ringing the Department of the Environment and the Health Service Executive before somebody from the HSE rang back to suggest I ring a local vet. It was only then that I was told to ring the Department of Agriculture,” he told yesterday’s Liveline programme.

Labour TD Mary Upton yesterday said gardaí must be given full instructions on how to deal with suspected cases and criticised the Government for not establishing a 24/7 hotline.

“A constituent of mine contacted me this week to say that she had tried to report a dead swan at Harold’s Cross Bridge at 3.30pm on Sunday. Yet at 5.50pm that swan was still there. She had called the gardaí, the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Department of the Environment before eventually being put through to Agriculture. Nobody knew who to contact.”

Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture Denis Naughten said the Government reaction to the crisis has been “shambolic”.

“Just yesterday, I heard of a doctor who found a dead bird on the South Circular Road in Dublin who went through another runaround trying to report the bird to the correct authorities. A proper communications strategy is vital if the public are to feel confident about the department’s handling of the crisis,” he said.