Foot and Mouth Crisis Threatens Irish Economy
By Diarmuid MacDermott

Ireland was in shock after the confirmation by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on March 22 that the first case of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in the Republic since 1941 was confirmed.

Emergency measures were immediately put into place around the farm at Proleek, in Co. Louth, close to the Northern Ireland border where the outbreak occurred in a major bid to try and prevent the spread of the disease.

The Irish Army was put on full alert and extra gardai were drafted into the area as an exclusion zone was declared around the farm.  Operation Ringfence was mounted in an effort to stop all movement of people and animals around
the infected farm.

Department of Agriculture officials began slaughtering 12,500 sheep and cattle in the immediate vicinity of the farm and the country braced itself for the worst case scenario.

A dejected Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told a shocked Dail of his "major disappointment"' that FMD was confirmed in the Republic.  The mood of the country in all areas, both rural and urban , was somber as people came to terms with the news after weeks of a valiant national effort to prevent the disease spreading from Britain.

As the epidemic spreads rapidly throughout Britain , with almost 500 cases confirmed there already and predictions  that the total could exceed 4,000, the effects on Ireland and the Irish economy cannot be minimized.

As soon as news of the FMD outbreak was confirmed, shares in Irish companies dropped with the Irish stock market dropping by 5% in value immediately. The overall effect on the economy is predicted to cost the Irish economy almost $2 billion in growth and economists warned that the outbreak could knock 2% off the economic growth. 
The outbreak of FMD has implications for all sectors of the Irish economy from agriculture, through tourism and to the retail market as consumer spending is expected to be hit. Tourism chiefs were meeting in emergency session to discuss potential losses of hundreds of million of dollars in tourist revenues. Tourism Minister Jim McDaid said the losses could total £500 million ($600 million).

The government has stressed that the disease has no human health implications and no implications for food consumption. But the knock on effects on all areas of the economy cannot be underestimated.

As Britain finally woke up to the dangers of the disease that originated there, Ireland is poised to reap the whirlwind of a natural calamity over which it had no control.