North sheep show signs of disease

It is now understood the sheep at the centre of the alert have shown clinical signs of foot and mouth and, although it will be three days before tests will show if they have the disease, people are already preparing themselves for the worst.

Four hundred gardai are on duty along the border after a suspected outbreak of foot and mouth in south Armagh. A five mile exclusion zone has been imposed around the farm, close to the village of Meigh, where vets are preparing to incinerate a flock of sheep.