Department of Agriculture officials in Dublin and the Stormont Executive in Belfast held a series of separate meetings and plans for an all-island approach to tackle the threat have been put in place.

Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan has imposed a ban on all imports of live animals, fresh meat and non-pasteurised milk from Britain. Ports and airports have also been alerted to put in place the necessary precautionary measures.

"Having a clean image and having food safety is absolutely paramount for our agriculture industry so I am going to work with my senior department officials to ensure that this disease is kept out of Ireland, " Coughlan said yesterday.

"This situation will evolve hour by hour depending on the information available.

There is a contingency plan available to us and we can put that in place."

Meanwhile, fears that this week's Failte Ireland Dublin Horse Show would have to close have been alleviated. A spokeswoman said, "We are putting bio-security protocol measures in place in relation to the movement of horses and the show will be up and running next week as planned."

A Department of Agriculture spokesman added, "Our officials are in touch with the horse show authorities to discuss the precautionary measures they are putting in place and as of now the horse show will go ahead."

In Northern Ireland, the Minister for Agriculture Michelle Gildernew convened a special meeting of the Stormont Executive yesterday. "Everything that can be done will be done to contain this incident from becoming a major outbreak, " she said.

The Ulster Farmers' Union president Kenneth Sharkey said he supported Gildernew's immediate decision to ban imports of live animals from Britain to the North. "A clear lesson from the 2001 outbreak is that swift action when a disease is detected is crucial, " he said.

There were four outbreaks of the disease in the North during the last epidemic in 2001. The first occurred in Meigh, South Armagh along the border with Louth's Cooley Penninsula where the South's only case was discovered.

Specially constructed machines were deployed at ports and travellers at seaports and airports had to walk through disinfected mats.

The department spokesman told the Sunday Tribune that "disinfection procedures are going to be put into place over the next few days."

Coughlan has dismissed claims by the Irish Farmers' Association that the foot and mouth case in Surrey was caused by the importation of meat from Brazil.