Not all sheep farmers grazing State lands at the Curragh in Co Kildare have complied with a Department of Agriculture directive to remove their flocks from the land, it has emerged.
Last night a Department spokesman confirmed that three farmers had not removed sheep from the commonage to adjoining farmland. He said they would be given a further opportunity to remove them today and if they refused, the Department would take whatever action it felt necessary to ensure no sheep remained on the land by midnight tonight.
The Department's action could include ordering the slaughter of the sheep, he said.
Up to 22 farmers had been grazing 3,200 acres of commonage at the Curragh before the Department of Agriculture introduced measures to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. Farmers with land adjoining the Curragh were asked by the Department last week to move their sheep on to their own lands. Those with land not adjoining the commonage were permitted to leave their sheep on the Curragh until permits were issued to have them transported to private farmland by road.
A spokesman for the Department of Defence, which owns the land, said yesterday the vast majority of farmers asked to move their sheep to adjoining farmland had done so promptly but there was a small number who had not complied. "That matter is now in the hands of the Department of Agriculture and, if necessary, the gardai," he said.
However, there appears to have been some confusion among farmers about whether they are obliged to move their sheep. One farmer told The Irish Times he had been asked by Kildare gardai to move his flock but when he contacted the Department of Agriculture he was told to leave them where they were. Later gardai contacted him again, asking him why his flock had not been moved.
The Department of Agriculture said anyone who was unclear about what action to take should contact the local district veterinary office, in this case the Naas office.
While the land is owned by the Department of Defence, the Department receives no income from the holding. About 150 people hold rights to graze the commonage under the Curragh of Kildare Act, 1870. They are allowed to lease their rights to other farmers, the Department confirmed, and at present livestock belonging to 22 farmers are grazing the land.
"Before this crisis struck there were about 5,000 sheep on the Curragh. Now there are only about 1,800," the Department of Defence spokesman added.
A number of motorists travelling on the main N7 Dublin to Cork/Limerick road, which passes through the Curragh, had complained to the Department about the sheep on the land. They feared any infection, if it occurred, could spread quickly because of the heavy volume of traffic on the route.
Meanwhile the Kildare Chilling plant, on the edge of the Curragh, which closed on Friday after it emerged that sheep from a Co Louth farm under investigation for foot-and-mouth disease had been processed there, remained "restricted" last night.
The Department said its concerns in relation to the plant were lessening. Results of tests for foot-and-mouth disease carried out on animals in the Co Louth farm before they were slaughtered at the weekend proved negative.
Meath county councillors met yesterday despite calls on people to limit their movements. The councillors agreed to defer further meetings during the crisis.