The influenza has been found in a whooper swan on Gortermone lake in Carrigallen, Co Leitrim. The lake shares a border with Longford.

The discovery was made this week. Two Department of Agriculture personnel visited a farm where the swan has washed up and brought it away for examining.

Last week, the Department confirmed that the H5N8 strain of avian influenza or bird flu was confirmed in the second week of 2017 in a whooper swan in Borrisokane, Co Tipperary.

Two cases in wild ducks were found in Co Wexford and Co Galway at the end of December.

IFA poultry chairman Nigel Renaghan again urged all owners of birds to ensure that they are kept inside.

On Monday, the Department of Agriculture extended precautionary measures including the compulsory housing of all farmed birds “until further notice” and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed warned that bird flu was likely to be “well established in Ireland”.

On Wednesday morning, members of the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development requested a meeting with European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan after 550 recorded outbreaks of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza were found in both wild birds and poultry flocks in Europe since the end of October 2016.

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