Livestock imports halted amid new FMD alert

Imports of livestock from England to Ireland have been halted after another suspected outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK, the Agriculture Minister in the North, Michelle Gildernew, said today.

One shipment of cattle into the North has already been returned and Belfast minister Michelle Gildernew said other export licences had been withdrawn and disinfectant mats placed at airports and ports.

She said the suspected infection was expected to be confirmed later this afternoon and added that her counterparts in the Republic were taking similar action.

“I have taken a number of steps in terms of pre-emptive and precautionary actions,” she said.

She added that it was disappointing news for the industry.

“There are numerous questions to be asked about how this outbreak occurred,” she told the BBC.

She is meeting senior officials in her department and in Dublin and promised a return to the “Fortress Ireland” approach which prevented the disease spreading the last time it was detected in August.

The British government has set up a 10km control zone centred on the affected site near Egham, Surrey, and a pre-emptive slaughter has been ordered.

A national movement ban has been put in place to prevent the disease spreading from Milton Park Farm in Stroude Road.

A report into the August outbreak blamed a leaking pipe at the animal research site in Pirbright, Surrey.