WINNERS AND LOSERS:THE FOOT-and-mouth outbreak in 2001 cost the State €210 million and agriculture was the only sector that actually gained from the outbreak of the disease.
A report undertaken by Indican, an international consultancy firm, found that while agriculture gained €107 million from the crisis, tourism and other sectors had lost €210 million.
In addition, it estimated the exchequer costs at €107 million and the total cost of the outbreak at €210 million, or about 0.2 per cent of GDP.
The study, published a year after the event, found that any potential losses to the agriculture sector were offset by firmer meat prices and increased exports to Britain and the European Union.
Overall, the impact of the outbreak was believed to have increased the value of agri-food exports by €63 million.
Sheep farmers in the Cooley peninsula lost out heavily when the sudden slaughter of their animals revealed they had been claiming a €19 ewe subsidy on 6,625 animals they did not have.
A breakdown of the 106 farmers showed that 51 had a deficit of 20 per cent or greater involving 5,848 sheep.
Of these, 16 who had applied for ewe premiums on 2,163 sheep were found at the cull to have no sheep at all.
Twenty-one of them had a deficit of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent, and 34 had a deficit of less than 10 per cent.
The man who smuggled the animals into the Republic, John Walsh (50), Warrick Square, Carlisle, England, formerly of Longford House, Birr, Co Offaly, spent 10 months in prison because of his actions.
He pleaded guilty to four charges of illegally importing the sheep between February 19th and 20th, 2001.
Several years later his farm in Offaly was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau and auctioned to pay his tax liabilities.
In addition, dozens of farmers across the Republic who had purchased smuggled cattle from Northern Ireland were forced to abandon those animals as movement restrictions and identification of animal procedures were imposed.