A possible outbreak of Newcastle Disease on a poultry farm in the Republic is being investigated by the Department of Agriculture.
The case would be the first here since 1992 and follows the February outbreak of the disease in Northern Ireland, which has devastated the North's poultry industry.
Tests on the suspected case here, believed to be on a farm in Co Cavan, have been carried out and the results will be known today, according to a Department of Agriculture spokesman. He said the case related to two consignments of day old chicks which were recently imported from the North into the Republic.
Regulations governing the importation of poultry from the North were tightened after the outbreak of the disease there nearly two months ago.
Twenty two cases of the disease have now been confirmed bin the North and almost a million birds compulsorily slaughtered. The North's Department of Agriculture has also recently introduced a compulsory vaccination programme.
In the Republic a voluntary vaccination scheme, combined with tightened certification rules for importers and even favourable winds, have proved effective to date in preventing the disease from moving southwards.
The Republic's poultry industry had a farm gate value of £115 million in 1995. Even if a case in Co Cavan is confirmed, Department officials are understood to be confident that a major outbreak here can be averted.