There has been another outbreak of bird flu in the north east this time at a turkey farm in Clontibret, Co Monaghan.
It is the third such case within a week and follows on similar cases in Carlow, and near Kells, Co Meath.
The latest discovery is a serious worry and concern to turkey farms with only weeks to go to Christmas.
Once bird flu is found on a farm the whole poultry flock has to be culled leaving devastating losses for the farmer concerned.
The Department of Agriculture ordered all poultry including turkeys and chickens to be kept indoors to avoid catching the disease since yesterday ( Monday).
However Nigel Sweetman of the IFA Poultry Committee said while the latest incident is bad news, he does not see the bird fly outbreak impacting on the overall Christmas market or lead to a shortage of turkeys.
He said:” Our primary concern has to be for the farmers involved that now have nothing to sell for Christmas. You know it’s the one shot they have at it, and relative to the Christmas market , this is a small dent. So if we control it and I am confident that we will, I can’t see any big impact on Christmas here.”
