Only two of six "short-term goals" set last May by a Government-appointed group charged with ensuring the State is prepared for a bioterrorism attack have been implemented.
Six "urgent goals" which were necessary if the Republic was to deal adequately with a bioterrorist attack were set by the group, The Irish Times has learned.
Known as the Expert Committee - Contingency Planning for Biological Threats, the group is made up of representatives from the National Disease Surveillance Centre, the Irish Medicines Board, senior laboratory staff and representatives of the Eastern Regional Health Authority and Department of Health.
In contrast however to Britain - considered a possible target which if hit, could immediately affect Ireland - authorities here have only ensured adequate vaccine and antibiotic stocks and provided information to frontline doctors and medical staff.
Among the expert group's recommendations were the designation of hospitals as centres of reception for smallpox victims; vaccination of frontline emergency personnel against smallpox and the provision of personal protection equipment for frontline medical staff.
The group also had input from the Army, the Garda Síochána and other Government departments in preparing its protocol, "Biological Threats: A Health Response for Ireland".
The lack of progress on its recommendations led to public health doctors refusing to take part in a committee meeting earlier this week. The Irish Medical Organisation has instructed its public health members not to co-operate with the Department of Health over its refusal to organise on-call rosters, one of the key recommendations.
As a result, none of the Republic's eight directors of public health attended a bioterrorism sub-group planning meeting, which took place last Monday.
Referring to action by the public health doctors, the IMO vice-president, Dr Joe Barry, said: "This action was not taken lightly. Last May, the Department of Health's own expert committee on contingency planning for biological threats stated that a short-term priority was to organise 24-hour on- call rosters of public health doctors.
"Despite repeated and urgent requests to progress this minimum initiative, the Department has failed to do so and created an unacceptable level of vulnerability in the event of such an attack."
Dr Barry told The Irish Times it was vital that "the Government takes threats to human health as seriously as they take threats to animal health as evidenced by the no-holds barred approach to foot- and-mouth disease last year".
Meanwhile, public health doctors voted yesterday to take industrial action on pay and career structure. Despite a recent report recommending consultant status for senior public health doctors and a revised structure for others, the Department of Health has so far refused to implement the report's recommendations.