CENTRE for CROSS BORDER STUDIES
Generating real benefits through practical cross-border cooperation in Ireland
]
| On 13 February
2002 Bríd
Rodgers, Minister of Agriculture
and Rural Development, announced
her decision to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to undertake
an independent review of the spring 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease
outbreak in Northern Ireland. As part of this process the Centre
for Cross
Border studies was asked by PwC to prepare a paper on the cross-border
implications of the FMD outbreak and, in particularly, the extent
to which North/South cooperation was effective in both preparing
for, and dealing with, the disease. DARD's contingency plan for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) has been reviewed and updated in line with recommendations contained in the PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) independent review of the Government's handling of the 2001 outbreak of FMD. The plan is an operational document (it does not address questions of policy) and provides a framework for an emergency response to a FMD outbreak. The plan is also designed as a source of information on the nature of epizootic disease and the strategies to be deployed in combating a disease outbreak. In the event of a further outbreak, the implementation of control policies will be subject to veterinary risk assessment to ensure that the response is proportionate. |
See
the terms of referenceand the final paper
.