North West 200 off due to FMD

One of the UK’s top motor cycle road racing events was tonight called off because of the foot-and-mouth restrictions.

Organisers of the North West 200 event which attracts crowds of up to 100,000 people announced that it will not being held this year.

Clerk of the course Mervyn White said the wider public interests meant there was no alternative but to cancel.

He said: ‘‘It is bitterly disappointing, disappointing for the traders, for the area and for various people but we have got to take the whole community into consideration when we took the decision.’’

The cancellation came after the Northern Ireland Executive today recommended the race should not go ahead.

With an estimated 30,000 fans from Britain due to attend, the executive said veterinary advice claimed the meeting would present an unacceptable risk of infection.

The risk of spreading the disease to any of the several farms which skirt the track was seen as too great to take.

There has been a number of major alerts, but the disease has been restricted to just one area of Northern Ireland part of south Armagh.

The Executive said it would not be possible to put in place adequate precautions to ensure disease was not spread from British visitors to farms in the Coleraine, Portstewart and Portrush areas where the races had been planned for next month.

It will be a huge blow to the tourism industry, already badly affected by the farm crisis.

Tests on cattle on a farm at Ardboe, Co Tyrone proved negative today, but the latest alert has heightened Department of Agriculture demands to keep in force as many restrictions as possible in a bid to contain the virus.

The Executive has also recommended that horse race meetings at Down Royal and Downpatrick next month should not take place.

The Northern Ireland Rate Collection Agency has agreed to defer payment of rates bills in cases where financial hardships can be demonstrated.

The small firms loan guarantee scheme has been amended as well to help businesses affected by the emergency.