All foot-and-mouth infected animals in Northern Ireland may not have been traced, the Agriculture Minister, Mrs Brid Rodgers, told the Assembly yesterday.
Mrs Rodgers said 60 livestock might not yet have been accounted for. The foot-and-mouth outbreak spread to Northern Ireland last month after a consignment of sheep were imported from a market in Carlisle. It had been thought all had been located and destroyed on a farm at Meigh, south Armagh.
But in a statement to the Assembly, Mrs Rodgers said her department was investigating unconfirmed reports that the number of sheep involved might have been larger than first thought.
"My staff are working with the various police forces to get to the bottom of this, but we are receiving little co-operation from those who are under suspicion, which makes the task much more difficult.
"Until our inquiries into this new information are complete, I am unable to state categorically that all potentially infected animals have been traced and accounted for. "This matter is being pursued with the utmost urgency and I will update members as soon as I can," she said.
Appealing for any information to be passed to her department immediately, she added: "We are talking about possibly 60 animals, but it is impossible to be absolutely certain."
Despite these fears, the Minister said she was "increasingly hopeful that we have been able to nip what could have been a major disaster for the agri-food industry, north and south of the Border, in the bud."
Mrs Rodgers said her officials had been having regular meetings with the RUC and the British army.
"Contrary to what has been portrayed in some sections of the media, I have had no difficulty at all in seeking and obtaining RUC and army assistance where I thought it was needed and they have duly provided it," she said.
The Minister doubted whether the British government would make payments to farmers whose animals had not been destroyed but who suffered losses as export markets dried up.
"Nevertheless, I know that ministers in GB will be under pressure to pay compensation for such losses and obviously I will be stressing that any change in policy in that area will have to apply in Northern Ireland too."