Sub-committee not to meet to discuss outbreak

The Government appointed task force for the foot-and-mouth crisis will not be meeting today, despite the fresh outbreak of the disease in the North.

Despite calls from the ICMA and the IFA to redouble efforts along the border to keep the virus out of the Republic, Minister Joe Walsh has rejected the opportunity to call a meeting of the sub-committee.

Minister Walsh says that the outbreak comes as a warning to us all that we cannot be complacent and cannot give up the fight.

Gardai and soldiers who are patrolling the border have been placed on high alert to prevent the spread of, what Ulster farmers are describing as, a disaster.

This morning vets in the North are preparing to cull about 4,000 cattle and a 3km exclusion zone has been enforced following the positive returns on the test results.

The fact that the latest outbreak is new and not near to the previous case in Co Armagh has raised suggestions that this case may have originated in England.