A GOVERNMENT inquiry has been launched into an illegal bird-smuggling racket that has exposed serious flaws in Ireland’s defences against avian flu.

A Sunday Times investigation has revealed that a consignment of exotic birds was brought illegally into Rosslare harbour on Good Friday and sold to dealers in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Wexford, Limerick and Portlaoise, even though officials had detailed knowledge of the plans in advance. Up to 30 of the birds died in transit and were dumped in plastic bags in the midlands.

Some of the birds are believed to have come from eastern Europe, where the deadly H5N1 virus has been confirmed. The carcasses have not been recovered. The remaining birds, dispatched across Ireland, have not been quarantined, despite being transported with the dead ones.

Officials have confirmed details given to The Sunday Times about the illegal consignment by sources in the trade:

• Three government departments — agriculture, environment and customs and excise — were notified of the illegal consignment before it began its journey to Ireland.
• They were given the name and nationality of the smuggler and a description of his van.
• They were also told his estimated time of arrival in Ireland and precisely where he would land — Rosslare.

Yesterday a spokesman for Mary Coughlan, the agriculture minister, said an investigation would be launched into the illegal importation. Coughlan’s department has responsibility for preventing an outbreak of avian flu.

"This individual did not have prior authorisation to import these birds, which makes it an illegal consignment," said the spokesman. "The information the department received was not sufficient to identify the vehicle and for that reason we were unable to stop it."

Customs and Excise also said the details they were given were too vague. "All intelligence we receive is carefully examined," the department said. "However, it sometimes proves inadequate or incomplete for our purposes. That was the situation in this case." Yet this was contradicted by the environment department, which believed officials had had sufficient information to stop the consignment, including a name. Customs officials have automatic access to all relevant passenger lists.

According to trade sources, after clearing customs the dealer, who is believed to have been operating undetected for years in Ireland, sent a text message to colleagues boasting that he had cleared customs without any difficulty.

Under EU and Irish law, the agriculture department must be told 24 hours before birds can be imported into Irish ports and airports, but breeders say thousands of birds are brought illegally into Ireland each year.

Attempts last week to reach the dealer, whose identity is known to The Sunday Times but cannot be revealed for legal reasons, were unsuccessful. Several Irish dealers — who were unaware that the Good Friday shipment was illegal — confirmed they bought birds from him over the Easter period.

A week before the Good Friday consignment was due to arrive, the agriculture department received a call from an Irish breeder who was contacted by the smuggler and offered birds for sale. The breeder told officials the man was travelling to Ireland without permission, and gave the name, nationality and description of the vehicle to be used.

Separately, the environment department had also been tipped off by an anonymous caller that the same consignment was due to arrive in Rosslare on Good Friday. This caller also confirmed the identity of the smuggler, who is thought to have netted a profit of over ¤30,000 from his Easter weekend spree.

Agriculture officials then confirmed with their counterparts in environment that the consignment was illegal and an official from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) alerted customs officials at Rosslare harbour. The environment department directed that a NPWS ranger be placed on standby to assist with the interception of the delivery. Despite his presence the smuggler went undetected.

Earlier this month Coughlan insisted the republic was prepared to tackle avian flu, but no new measures would be introduced.

Yesterday, Mary Upton, the Labour TD and spokeswoman on agriculture, said: "I am astounded that the department of agriculture wasn’t able to stop this consignment. What confidence can the public have in the government’s avian flu strategy now?"

Upton has called for the government to establish a dedicated bio-security authority to tackle threats such as bird flu. "On paper, we have a plan, in practice we have a timebomb on our hands," she said.

The trade in wild birds is highly lucrative, second only to drug dealing. A special unit has been established by the NPWS to crack down on the illegal trapping and trading of wild birds and several prosecutions are pending.

Ireland has no 24-hour system to protect against outbreaks of disease such as bird flu, Sars or biological terrorism.

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