This is a major blow, nationally, to farmers in the Cooley area and to the Minister and the various officers and officials who have worked so hard to try to prevent this. We will give every support possible to assist in confining this disease and to preventing its spread. It will be critical support. We will give unquestioning support to measures that will help but where we see deficiencies we will expose them. Where we can suggest improvements, we will make them.
I wish to point out, without the slightest ambiguity, that the interchange of experiences and insights in the House over the past couple of weeks has been helpful. I hope it will continue to be so in the future and I thank the Taoiseach for agreeing to keep the lines open. The last thing the Taoiseach and the Minister need at this stage is more meetings but it would be essential, in the interests of all, to have the minimum structure necessary to keep information flowing and to maintain an exchange of views so that whatever can be offered in terms of practical support will be offered.
The initial priority must be to contain this outbreak. It is disappointing to discover that it is a secondary outbreak within an existing exclusion zone. We need to know, as quickly as possible, how it has spread that far. We must find the reason and eradicate it. It is even more important that the new and extended exclusion zone which the Minister has set up is made as watertight and impenetrable as possible. That will require substantial assistance from the community around the zone and from others.
It will also place a further burden of difficulty on the people who live in the zone and in contiguous areas. We should mark our concern for the position of people who are living, farming and working within that zone. If anything needs to be done to support them in the difficulties they will face, not just difficulties of physical movement but difficulties in earning their living, those measures should be put in place. It should be a part of this operation to ensure, as far as possible, that the effects on the people in the immediate area are minimised and that their needs are met.
The problem is located in the Cooley peninsula. That peninsula, a beautiful place, poses a number of particular difficulties for disease control. There are a number of flocks on the peninsula and they will have to be gathered together and maintained under strict control and supervision. Can the Minister say if there are any other susceptible animals in the Cooley peninsula? My information, for example, is that there are herds of deer on the peninsula. They are susceptible animals and are capable of spreading the disease. We must implement whatever measures are required to prevent further spread by that vector. Has the Minister plans for contiguous vaccination in the areas surrounding the extended exclusion zone and have arrangements been made to ensure corresponding action in Northern Ireland? This vaccine does not respect borders and if we are to make an effective exclusion zone it must be exclusive over all the zone and that would include action in Northern Ireland.
If anything was needed to underline the message that we cannot relax our vigilance this confirmation of disease is probably the worst way. All the measures in place throughout the country must be reconfirmed and strengthened. The controls on movement of livestock must be scrupulously observed and rigidly implemented. The provisions taken for disinfection must be beefed up because we cannot afford to take chances. There can be no question now of relaxation of restrictions in advice given to the population to prevent the spread of this disease. We need assurance that the UK authorities are taking all the measures possible to prevent spread of the disease. The main source of this disease is still on the other side of the Irish sea. We continue to be at risk as long as new outbreaks continue in Great Britain and not just from the infection there already but from other vectors. We must insist the UK authorities apply more stringent controls at points of exit from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and, if necessary, at points of entry into Northern Ireland.
I thank the Minister for sending me a copy of The Foot and Mouth Disease Contingency Plan for Ireland, dated April 2000. It was referred to in the House last week. This document appears to have been prepared by someone who just looked at what the legislation provides. Unfortunately it is not an operational plan for what happens in the event of an outbreak. It is simply a bureaucratic recapitulation of what various Acts and regulations apply. It needs to be updated seriously but this is not the time to do it. "Ní hé lá na gaoithe lá na scolb". We need to look at it again when we emerge from this dreadful tunnel.