After spreading through Europe since the end of October, a case of the highly infectious H5N8 strain of bird flu was discovered in a wild duck in Co Wexford last Friday.

This is the first case of bird flu to be found in Ireland since 2012.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, IFA poultry committee chair Nigel Renaghan said he was disappointed to see the Department of Agriculture has not communicated directly with poultry farmers regarding the requirement to house their birds. Legislation for this was brought in on 23 December 2016, following the detection of a number of bird flu cases in Britain.

The main purpose of this is to reduce the risk of contact between poultry flocks and wild birds, who are natural reservoirs of the virus.

Renaghan had called for the introduction of housing for birds one week before it was introduced.

“There has been no official correspondence from the Department to poultry farmers in Ireland regarding this legislation,” he said.

“This is not acceptable given the risk to commercial flocks from the case in Co Wexford and the cases in Britain. Farmers are finding out only via media and word of mouth. This is not good enough. The Department needs to lead on this.”

In response, the Department told the Irish Farmers Journal the decision to house birds was communicated to “a comprehensive mailing list of relevant leading industry stakeholders” on 23 December. It added that it has communicated to farmers and the general public through social and local media as well as meetings with stakeholders.

The Department added that housing alone does not eliminate risk and farmers must also ensure strict biosecurity on their farms.

Renaghan has also expressed concern that backyard flocks cannot be monitored as easily as large commercial farms, to which the Department responded that while small backyard flocks are at risk, the commercial impact is less. The Department also clarified that it does have a database of registered backyard flocks.

Listen to a discussion of the outbreak in our podcast below:

Listen to "Case of bird flu discovered in Co Wexford" on Spreaker.

Unlike protracted animal diseases such as bovine TB, there is no established method for compensating poultry farmers affected by bird flu. The Department will be meeting with representatives from the IFA poultry committee this Friday to discuss the compensation options if farmers have to cull birds. However, the Department has told the Irish Farmers Journal there will be no compensation for a possible future reduction in consumer demand in the wake of the scare.

Poultry farming in Ireland

Poultry farming in Ireland is an intensive activity carried out by a small number of specialised producers. In 2010, fewer than 700 farms held 98% of all poultry in Ireland, with more than half of this produced in Co Monaghan.

The last time poultry farms in Ireland suffered a significant outbreak of H5N8 was in 1983 when thousands of ducks, chickens and turkeys were culled to stop the disease spreading.