The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, has again refused to criticise the British government's handling of the crisis.
At his daily briefing yesterday, Mr Walsh said the disease was "out of control" in Britain. "I am extremely concerned and frightened about the scale of the disease and obviously it's rampant there," he said.
"I want to reiterate, we are getting the greatest co-operation from the UK authorities, that is both London and Belfast. I am in regular contact with Nick Brown and the flow of information is very considerable between the two countries and that is all I have to say about that subject," he said.
Asked if this meant that junior ministers' open criticism of the British response was unhelpful, Mr Walsh replied: "The information we are receiving is top class and I am in constant contact with Nick Brown.
"I can understand the frustration of people though, who might be frustrated about all of this matter," he concluded.
Asked by a BBC reporter how he could persuade Northern unionists who have claimed the Department of Agriculture was concealing the disease here, Mr Walsh said no government could hide foot-and-mouth disease from the public.
Tests on animals were being carried out in the internationally recognised laboratory in England, he noted, and the system was being monitored by the EU.