Ireland battens down the hatches

Cars are being disinfected on the border

By Dublin correspondent Kevin Connolly

Police checkpoints had become something of a rarity on the busy road that crosses the Irish border in South Armagh on its way from Belfast to Dublin.

This is potentially the most devastating matter that could happen to the country since independence

Irish agriculture minister

The terrorist threat that once made this the most heavily militarised frontier in western Europe may not have gone away entirely, but it is much diminished.

In recent days, though, the security measures have been back in force as the Irish authorities wage a desperate campaign to keep foot-and-mouth disease out.

Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh said: "This is potentially the most devastating matter that could happen to the country since independence."

At first glance the task may seem hopeless, but officials in Dublin insist they are optimistic that they can do it.

The measures taken within Ireland are more severe than those taken within the UK to prevent it spreading

Ireland, they point out, managed to stay foot-and-mouth free in the 1960s when Britain suffered its last epidemic. But much has changed since then.

Cheap air travel means there is much more movement between Ireland and the UK, the industrialisation of farming has changed the nature of agricultural links and the improved political situation has increased cross-border contact.

Measures inside Ireland

The confirmed outbreak of foot-and-mouth in Northern Ireland was in the village of Meigh in County Armagh, only a mile or so from the border - disturbingly close if you are farming in the south.

Police are questioning drivers about their movements

When you consider the long tradition of illegal movement of livestock across the border by smugglers cashing in on the differences between the two systems you get a sense of how hard the Irish Government's task will be.

It is not just the security on the border, although when I drove in from Northern Ireland last night every driver was being stopped and questioned and many cars were diverted through roadside troughs of disinfectant.

The measures taken within Ireland to keep the disease out are in many cases more severe than those taken within the UK to prevent it spreading.

Horse racing and hunting have been banned and the Six Nations rugby international against Wales in Cardiff has been postponed.

All Irish Football Association soccer matches this weekend are off, as are all the fixtures in the hugely popular Gaelic sport of hurling. Dublin's famous zoo in Phoenix Park has been closed.

The object, of course, is to keep the movement of people and animals to an absolute minimum, a difficult but vital process in a country where agriculture is one of the key sectors in the national economy.

It is a huge task and a single lapse could mean disaster but, at the Department of Agriculture briefing where the latest measures were revealed journalists even had to pass over disinfected mats to get into the building.

Keeping foot-and-mouth out is a difficult task on which many livelihoods depend, but there is no doubting Ireland's seriousness of purpose.