Greetings again,
I couldn't access the Welsh site Keith sent and have been trying to find
some path to the info. from a Welsh point of view. It seem the National
Welsh Tourist Board is having some Net issues.
You might want to try these:
http://www.nwt.co.uk/home.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/
The above site contains an update on the far right. This site has many
articles on the situation.
It's URL:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/wales/newsid_1216000/1216514.stm
This just appeared from another email list from someone living in Ireland:
Source: MAYO-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: Update on Foot and Mouth disease/THE IRISH EMIGRANT
Some Listers were concerned last week about the impact of the outbreak of
Foot and mouth disease on their upcoming visits. If this is of no interest,
please delete it.
The Irish Emigrant - Issue No.736
Foot-and-mouth continued to be the dominant story but the good news is that
no more cases have been reported in the North and there is no indication
that the virus has reached the South. The disease is still
spreading across Britain, so tight controls are in place at all ports of
entry here and we are all being asked to be careful.
The fear that foot-and-mouth disease, now rampant in Britain, could be
come endemic here is as strong as ever, although there is relief that the
one case discovered in the North has not been followed by others.
All the indications are that the action taken in the South was
sufficient to prevent the spread of the infection across the border. A week
ago, 13 days into the crisis, 70 cases had been reported in
Britain and this has since risen to 164. The feeling here is that the
British could be doing more to prevent the spread of the virus but there is
also a feeling that some of the actions being taken here are
simply gestures of solidarity with the farming community.
On Monday 308 sheep on a farm near Claremorris were slaughtered as a
precautionary measure. The animals originated in England and were purchased
in the North on the day Minister for Agriculture Joe Walsh imposed a ban on
the importation of all animals.
It was on Tuesday that animals could again be moved off farms but only
to go to abattoirs and meat plants, and when the owner is in possession of
a permit. A day later there was a further relaxation
which meant that, again with permits, animals could be moved for veterinary
reasons. That meant that in-lamb ewes could be brought off the hills.
A day later the Irish rugby team's Six Nations encounters against
England in Dublin, and Scotland in Edinburgh, were postponed. The next
postponement was the Cheltenham Racing Festival which had been due to start
tomorrow. The racing authorities in England were planning to proceed with
the event despite severe criticism from their own farming community. The
fear here was that the thousands of Irish racing fans who make an annual
pilgrimage to Cheltenham would ignore Government pleas to stay at home.
Very few had cancelled their travel arrangements. What prompted the
cancellation was a
British Government ruling on Monday. This banned racing on courses which
had been grazed by farm animals in the previous 28 days, just catching
Cheltenham.
The Irish Examiner described Maurice Collins, the owner of the infected
farm in Meigh, Co. Armagh, as a well-known smuggler. It seems he is not at
all popular with his neighbours and is in the process of moving to a farm in
southwest Scotland.
Tourist interests say they stand to lose IR500m this year as a result of
the restrictions put in place to prevent the disease taking hold here. As
far as the Department of Agriculture is concerned it doesn't want any
visitors from the North or Britain and of course we are being discouraged
from crossing the border or travelling to Britain. The message has gone
further afield and it seems that people in other countries are also
cancelling visits to Ireland. The Gresham Hotel is trying to cut its losses
by offering Irish people special rates next weekend when it hoped to be full
with English rugby supporters. Hotels around the country must already be
having a difficult time as conferences, seminars and a variety of meetings
have been cancelled. Minister for Tourism Dr Jim McDaid has ruled out any
possibility of Government compensation.
The Oireachtas has passed new legislation to counteract the behaviour of
dealers who move animals around in pursuit of a fast buck. Animals must now
remain in the possession of an owner for 30 days before they can be resold,
unless a special permit is obtained. Department of Agriculture officials
have been given new powers and those flouting the new regulations can be
fined IR100k or jailed for
five years.
Some 520 farms, mostly in Co. Louth near the Armagh border, are
currently being monitored by the Department of Agriculture and are subject
to severe restrictions. Minister Walsh hinted that, if there are no further
cases on the island within the next week, there may be some relaxation of
the voluntary controls which are being widely observed. He is insistent,
however, that the primary controls will remain in place for 30 days after
the final case is reported in Britain. On Friday he appointed Professor
Michael Monaghan, Dean of the UCD veterinary department, to head a team
which will advise him on the appropriateness of the controls in place at any
given time.