Read More<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWhilst this does not have an impact on public health and food safety, it has potentially very serious consequences for agri food, and is the cause of real anxiety within the farming community, so we will be sending texts and emails to farmers in the impacted area, making them aware of the control zone that\u2019s now in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve updated the DAERA website. I\u2019ll be addressing the Assembly today on this issue, and it\u2019s important we\u2019re aware of the restrictions are now in place,\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Muir added: \u201cIn addition to setting up that 20km zone, we\u2019ve increased the amount of testing in the slaughterhouses, we\u2019ve also put in place traps for midges so we can actually test them and also we\u2019re doing more surveillance on farm in terms of testing of herds, so we\u2019re really stepping that up.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully it hasn\u2019t spread, but we need to make sure that we\u2019re responding to this very quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I want to say thank you to all the officials within my department who have been working all weekend and respond to this, because they understand the importance of a speedy response to this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ulster Farmers Union president William Irvine said farmers in Northern Ireland are very concerned about the development, having hoped that bluetongue would not reach the island of Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were hopeful that we had escaped it for this season but just on the last lap it has appeared, and all precautions now need to be taken, and hopefully it can be contained,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the UFU is in close contact with Daera as investigations continue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a serious disease, and we recognise the concern it will cause among farmers and the wider agri-food industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur priority is to stay fully informed as DAERA’s investigations progress and to ensure members receive accurate updates as more information becomes available.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDaera has established a temporary control zone and begun its response, and we appreciate the urgency of the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also calling on DAERA to communicate directly and quickly with all farmers inside the TCZ and to provide a dedicated helpline so that those affected can access clear advice on what these restrictions mean for their businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will maintain regular engagement with the department in the days ahead and will communicate key developments to members as they are confirmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said all farmers should remain vigilant for signs of bluetongue and follow official guidance issued by Daera.<\/p>\n
He added that anyone with concerns should contact their private vet, local divisional veterinary office or the DAERA helpline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Testing has been ramped up after the first suspected Bluetongue case on the island of Ireland. Two cows…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[23670,189039,189631,39437,23668,109938,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-605124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-andrew-muir","9":"tag-bluetongue","10":"tag-control-zone","11":"tag-daera","12":"tag-department-of-agriculture","13":"tag-island-of-ireland","14":"tag-northern-ireland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115643972843828822","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}