Dr Ruth Sanders, superintending veterinary inspector with the Department of Agriculture, delivered a detailed presentation on the bluetongue virus (BTV) and other exotic diseases.

This included an update on the current policy for bluetongue as of June 2026.

Sanders said that there is no eradication policy in place for the BTV and no animals have or will be culled. This is stemming from more than three years’ experience from other countries in Europe which shows that it is not possible to eradicate the virus.

“It is in the midges – with climate change the prevalence and persistence of midges in the environment is increasing year-on-year and you just can’t get rid of them,” she said.

The status of BTV serotypes one to 24 is being downgraded from a category C to a category D+E disease from 15 July 2026. This means that BTV will be treated as a disease under surveillance rather a disease to be eradicated.

Technically there are no movement restrictions in place for the import of animals from continental Europe, but Sanders outlined that Ireland has set really strict pre-import rules for such animals along with implementing post-import testing. There have only been two animals imported live in recent times and those have been in recent weeks. Animals can only move from other member states without additional certification where BTV 3 is the only serotype reported. For animals moving from member states where serotypes other than BTV3 are reported, additional risk mitigation measures are required. There are two options:

  • Vaccination and negative virus (PCR) pre-movement testing or;
  • Positive antibody and negative virus (PCR) pre-movement testing.

    • Vaccination

    Ireland and the UK have not witnessed the severity of disease seen in continental Europe and Sanders comments that this is likely due to lower temperatures and lower intensity of disease in the environment. There is no telling if this will remain the case.

    There has, however, been significant fertility issues reported in Britain.

    Vaccination of breeding animals was highlighted as being particularly important given the effects of the virus on fertility and the ability to transmit virus in semen during mating.

    “Vaccination reduces viraemia and clinical signs and is the best tool we have in mitigating risk against the disease.”

    There is no duration of immunity established and this is important for certification as you cannot certify for movement based on vaccination.

    “Boehringer have told us they have submitted all the necessary data to the competent authorities and are looking for a full year duration so it should be an annual vaccination” for its vaccine Bultavo-3.