During the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001, Northern Ireland was unable to prevent illicit transportation of cattle infected with the disease from the Republic, a member of the Northern Executive reported to colleagues. Recently unveiled documents from Belfast’s Public Record Office in Northern Ireland illuminate the worries harboured by Stormont ministers and operatives regarding the disease’s propagation, particularly regarding its negative impact on northern food exports.
Bríd Rodgers, Northern Ireland’s Agriculture Minister at the time, pointed out the possible challenges, specifying that managing the spread would necessitate a “significant deployment” of Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers to inspect incoming vehicles and possibly exterminate livestock along the Border, with additional assistance from the British Army.
Rodgers, a minister for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), informed her colleagues in the executive that it was acknowledged the Irish Border could not be hermetically sealed. She argued the main benefit of such an action would be symbolic.
Rodgers also alerted to the vast issues that would arise if the disease commenced spreading within Northern Ireland, requiring a sizeable task force for each new case to control the situation and commence the extermination of hundreds of livestock daily, vets excluded. She anticipated just a few concurrent outbreaks would be enough to surpass their resources.
The highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease, that had first been discovered in an Essex abattoir in February 2001 already led to the extermination of millions of livestock and the prohibition of UK’s meat exportation while its rapid propagation implicated a handful of cases in both the Republic and Northern Ireland.
By the first week of March 2001, roughly 4000 animals were exterminated and buried in County Louth. The Department of Agriculture in Dublin reported to Stormont officials the discovery of sheep that had “disappeared” from a shipment from Carlisle. Rodgers reflected on the spread of the disease in Louth as disappointing but assured that as long as the cases were limited, it wouldn’t significantly worsen the circumstances.
Even at that time, Stormont was involved in discussions with the European Union and London, seeking an exemption for Northern Ireland from the EU’s prohibition on exports from the United Kingdom in its entirety. Rodgers stated that she had communicated with David Byrne, Ireland’s European commissioner at the time. She was confident of receiving his backing after presenting their case.
Nonetheless, Rodgers’ briefing document from early March’s hope of containing the foot-and-mouth outbreak to southern Armagh and northern Louth was shattered in April when instances emerged in Tyrone and Antrim. The crisis management by Dublin’s Department of Agriculture, under Fianna Fáil minister Joe Walsh, and Rodgers is currently recognised as an exemplar of successful trans-border collaboration.
Rodgers, in her briefing, agreed that Stormont’s efforts to disinfect at the Border were notably less stellar than the methods adopted by the Southern authorities. She stated that the general public anticipate a genuine effort to sanitise vehicles entering Northern Ireland and will persistently compare the responses of both authorities.
Nevertheless, enhancing the disinfection attempts at the border was beyond the capabilities of Stormont. If needed, it would result in the excessive deployment of officials from crucial tasks. She informed her colleagues that their actions at the border are subjected to heavy oversight and could potentially lead to significant embarrassment.
Rodgers suggested that to appease public perception, maintaining an official presence at all 175 recognized Border crossing points would be beneficial. However, that would necessitate mobilising 2,000 personnel. Even keeping the 35 main crossing points staffed around the clock would require 600 people. She noted that this would significantly impact the availability of other public services across Northern Ireland. She also mentioned that increasing our activities at the Border wouldn’t be effective, largely because a determined individual can easily circumvent fixed checkpoints.
Despite this, some Northern Ireland agencies overseeing forestry and rivers had already ceased most, if not all, of their primary duties due to the crisis-induced pressures.