The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, yesterday called on all citizens to take a serious personal responsibility in the effort to contain foot-and-mouth disease in the State.
Mr Ahern said it was a national challenge for the State. Meeting the challenge and avoiding the grave dangers which came with it would depend on the wholehearted support of every community and sector, he said in a statement.
Mr Ahern said the sense of national purpose in recent weeks had been inspiring and it was "gravely disappointing" that there was a confirmed case in Co Louth given the unstinting efforts of officials in the Department of Agriculture, the Garda and the Army. "We must now redouble the national effort. Every citizen must take a serious personal responsibility to follow scrupulously the directives of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. Every sector must assist the national effort and assist its individual members in doing so also."
Yesterday afternoon Mr Ahern briefed eight Government Ministers and brought them up to date on the situation.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, rang Mr Ahern yesterday following news of the outbreak to express his solidarity.
The spokesman, when questioned about the criticism of the handling of the crisis in the UK by Ministers of State last week, said these were not the Government's views.
The Fine Gael agriculture spokesman, Mr Alan Dukes, said the most stringent of measures had to be taken to ensure that a local tragedy did not become a national calamity.
He said it was important that the new and extended exclusion zone was made "watertight and as impenetrable as possible". If anything needed to be done to support people in the Cooley peninsula, those measures should be put in place.
The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, said he was "particularly devastated" over the case being confirmed in his constituency.
"My heart goes out to all those directly affected."
The Progressive Democrats' spokesman on agriculture, Senator John Dardis, said it would be necessary to cancel or postpone all events which posed a direct risk of the spread of the disease. "However, we need to carry out a strategic assessment of all public activities based on the experiences of the last month. This is the only way to contain the disease without needlessly paralysing key sectors of our economy."
The Green Party urged the Government to use whatever measures were necessary to mobilise all the forces of the State to contain the foot-and-mouth outbreak.
The Sinn Fein TD, Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain, said the confirmation of the cases in Co Louth was extremely worrying and a deep disappointment to all who had been working to prevent it occurring.