Nationwide housing order for poultry in place to eliminate bird flu

Ellen O'Donoghue

A nationwide housing order for poultry is now in place to eliminate bird flu.

The restriction means free-range farmers must house birds indoors and restrict their movements.

It follows an outbreak at Fota Wildlife Park last month, and several cases in a turkey flock elsewhere in the country.

The order was taken by the Department of Agriculture and follows two confirmed cases of bird flu outbreaks on separate commercial turkey farms last week in Carlow on Tuesday, with another the following day in a flock on a farm near Kells, Co Meath.

Three-kilometre protection zones and 10km surveillance zones are in place around both sites.

The outbreak in Carlow was the first on a commercial poultry farm in Ireland in more than two years.

A housing order has also been in place in Northern Ireland, where two bird flu outbreaks on separate poultry farms were confirmed on Friday.

Following laboratory testing, cases of Pathogenic Avian Influenza were confirmed on the sites in counties Fermanagh and Tyrone.