Due to new changes to EU legislation, no member state will be able to "achieve official freedom from bluetongue".

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon told the Dáil this week that the European Commission has recently recategorised bluetongue serotypes one to 24 in EU regulations under the EU Animal Health Law.

This shifts it from a category C disease to a category D+E disease.

"This change is scheduled to take full effect on July 15, 2026, and will result in bluetongue being treated as a disease under surveillance, as opposed to a disease to be eradicated," Minister Heydon explained.

"The implication for Ireland is the emphasis will be on movement controls and surveillance rather than disease eradication."

He told the Dáil on Tuesday (February 17) that Ireland's surveillance has been "significant and extensive" not just in Co. Wexford following the outbreak there, but nationwide.

Since the first detection of bluetongue virus in Ireland on January 22, infection has since been detected in five cattle herds in Co. Wexford, according to the minister.

He said that a further infection was detected last week in a bovine "which has been in a number of counties during the possible infection period".

"Investigations are now ongoing into that case," the minister said.

He said that as a result of the "more testing and tracking and surveillance we do, the more chances there are of being able to find it".

Disease-free

EU rules on controlling bluetongue will be substantially relaxed with effect from July of this year.

The minister said that there will "not be large-scale restrictions" in the summetime because the disease is being recategorised across the EU.

"That will make life easier for us in some ways," the minister said.

"It was not something we wanted when we were free of this disease.

"We wanted to be able to identify as quickly as possible. We did not want to lose our disease-free status, but now it is gone.

"We were the last of the European countries to be in that space, so there will be some relaxation of how we operate with that from July onwards."

Bluetongue impact on live exports

A key issue discussed at the Dáil debate on Tuesday was the impact of bluetongue on live exports.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture and food, Martin Kenny has called for a resolution to live exports between north and south.

“The suspension of live exports is having an impact on sales and, as we move into the spring, this is only going to get worse unless this suspension of live exports is lifted," Deputy Kenny said after the debate.

“Bluetongue has been located both north and south, and a resolution for cattle and sheep to travel both north and south needs to be found."

He has urged the minister to "work with his counterparts in the north and work on an all-Ireland resolution to stop the spread of the virus and protect Irish agriculture from further outbreaks".

“We need to see an expanded testing programme to identify and isolate the virus before it has a chance to spread," the Sinn Féin TD added.

“Irish farmers north and south need to be able to trade with their neighbours on an all-Ireland basis.”