Bray foot-and-mouth scare played down

The Department of Agriculture is playing down a fresh foot-and-mouth scare in Bray, Co Wicklow.

Two slaughtered lambs, from a flock of 300 sheep at Avoca, were found to have blisters in their mouths. Samples from the animals were sent for testing in England as a precaution.

These latest suspect cases have come at a nervous time as the 19th of April, the deadline for an easing of restrictions here, draws near.

The virus was detected last month among sheep at a farm in Co Louth, close to the border, and a few miles from the location in Co Armagh where the disease had been confirmed some weeks earlier.

Since then, tests at Pirbright on samples from a number of other animals from the Republic have all proved negative.