that is too bad Ashara, but still it is probably the best decison considering the circumstances. maybe next time, eh?:-) in order to prevent the introduction of foot and mouth disease into the republic, the Irish gvernment has taken some seemingly drastic actions. many regional sporting events have been cancelled or postponed, the st patricks festivities have been cancelled, a huge ad campaign has been launched. it seems so crazy that our government is treating it as an emergency, even more so than the British government, and we havent had any cases of it here. i was going to add yet, but shall refrain out of optimism. they are warning us not to go to the countryside, not to go to Northern Irealnd or Great Britain unless absolutely necessary, not to accept meat or dairy products from Northern Ireland of Great Britain. and so on. this will indeed cause huge finanacial problems for British agriculture. i must admit that our governments precautions have been prudent. it will, most likely at this rate, prevent the entry of the disease to Ireland and therefore prevent the deaths(and therefore prevent the loss of much money) of many thousands of animals. BUT, thousands of tourists and millions of tourists pounds will be lost instead. it was reported today that tourists from britain, usa, and japan in particular have cancelled planned visits here for St Patricks. teh news tells us that something like IR#40million will be the oppurtunity cost of saturday and sunday 17th and 18th of march. i just like to hear myself moan. sorry for the rant Ashara, and everyone else. i'm still reeling from the cancelling of Paddy's Day:-( GARRET
