The expert group set up to advise Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan on avian flu yesterday endorsed the actions taken so far to prevent the arrival of the potentially lethal disease here.
The endorsement came as it was reported in the UK that a worker involved in the outbreak of bird flu in Suffolk has been admitted to hospital with a mild respiratory illness.
The Health Protection Agency in the UK would not confirm last night if the worker was a vet but said tests were being carried out to establish the cause of the illness, one of which would be for the H5N1 avian flu.
The HPA spokesman said: "It is highly unlikely the worker has been exposed to H5N1 because of the strict precautionary measures followed. The individual had not been pre-exposed and was wearing full protective clothing."
Earlier, Ms Coughlan phoned her British counterpart David Miliband, secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, to confirm Ireland had not banned the import of poultry products here, despite reports in the UK media to the contrary.
Ireland takes 40,000 tonnes of British poultry annually.
South Korea and Hong Kong yesterday joined Japan and Russia in banning British poultry, a move a European Commission spokesman criticised as "totally disproportionate".
Britain exported more than 270,000 tonnes of poultry in 2006.
The outbreak in Britain has brought renewed interest in the issue from the public here and the department dealt with more than 100 queries on its special helpline, 1890 252283, since Monday morning.
A department spokesman said that in addition to reports on dead birds, officials also gave information to people seeking reassurance on their safety from the disease.
Internationally, two more Indonesians were confirmed as suffering from bird flu yesterday and Pakistan reported its first case in a year after finding the deadly virus in a small flock of chickens near the capital Islamabad.
( Additional reporting PA )