Bluetongue ‘big threat’ to livestock industry
Movement of more than 10 million cattle and sheep will be stopped as part of the surveillance zones associated with the virus which is spread by midges and has arrived in Britain from northern Europe.
Ms Coughlan said she was very anxious that an all-Ireland approach to threats posed by the disease and also by foot and mouth is maintained.
She said she would be meeting with the North’s Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Minister Michelle Gildernew, who was also at the ploughing championships.
Ms Coughlan said she is very concerned about bluetongue, which is very difficult to deal with because it is transmitted by midges. It had caused grave concern to her colleagues in continental Europe where they are looking for the provision of a new vaccine. In the event of bluetongue being confirmed here, the county would be closed to livestock movements and it would have a greater impact than foot and mouth.
“It is a serious animal disease and we will be working with my European colleagues and with the British authorities on this particular issue,” she said.
Ms Coughlan said animals would have to be locked up at dawn and at dusk if the virus came here because it is transmitted during those hours.
Thankfully, the ban on livestock being imported from Britain was in place here as part of the controls in place to prevent foot and mouth disease spreading to this country, she said.
Meanwhile, the IFA said 91% of people surveyed at the ploughing championships yesterday morning want Ms Coughlan to secure a total ban on Brazilian beef imports.
IFA president Padraig Walshe said the result sends a resounding message to Ms Coughlan and the European Commission that people reject the double standards that allow Brazilian beef imports into Europe.
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