A midge-borne livestock virus previously reported mainly in Africa and Japan has now reached Europe.
During summer 2026, the Shamonda virus; or a closely related European variant, was identified in cattle in France, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands and Austria. Scientists expect further spread to be possible while blood-feeding Culicoides midges* remain active.
* A Culicoides midge is a tiny biting fly, usually only 1–3 millimetres long. Female midges feed on the blood of cattle and other animals and can carry viruses from one animal to another, much like mosquitoes. They are especially active during warm, damp conditions and around dusk; some species transmit livestock diseases such as Shamonda and the already identified bluetongue virus.
Plausible routes for entry into Europe include infected midges being transported long distances by wind or inadvertently through trade and transport, or the movement of an infected animal.
In adult cattle, infection generally causes short-lived illness, including: High fever. Diarrhoea and appetite loss. Lethargy. A sudden, sometimes severe, reduction in milk yield.
Although most adult cattle appear to recover, affected dairy farms could face lost production, veterinary expenses and additional monitoring costs. The greatest concern involves pregnant animals. The virus can cross the placenta and has been detected in aborted bovine foetuses in Switzerland. Shamonda and related viruses may cause abortion, stillbirth or calves with serious limb, spinal and brain abnormalities when infection occurs during a vulnerable stage of pregnancy. Researchers are still determining how frequently this happens with the European variant.
The virus is thought to spread mainly through biting midges; not through ordinary direct contact between cattle. There is currently no specific treatment or vaccine, although sick animals can receive supportive veterinary care. Reducing exposure to midges may lower the risk but cannot provide complete protection.
Farmers should watch closely for clusters of fever, diarrhoea or abrupt milk loss and contact their veterinarian immediately. Early blood sampling is important because the virus may remain detectable in adult cattle for only a short time. Abortions, stillbirths and malformed calves should also be investigated.
There is currently no evidence that Shamonda virus causes disease in humans. It has not been identified as a food-safety threat from milk or meat.
The situation is evolving, and the virus’s origin, complete geographic distribution and long-term reproductive impact remain uncertain. Farmers should follow updates from their veterinarian and national animal-health authority rather than relying on social-media rumours.
The Minister for Agriculture Mr Martin Heydon has agreed to reconvene the National Fodder and Food Security Committee amid mounting concern about the impact of prolonged dry weather on fodder supplies.
The decision followed a meeting in Celbridge, Co Kildare, with Teagasc and representatives from leading farm organisations, including the Irish Farmers’ Association, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association and Macra.
Farm representatives warned that drought conditions have severely affected grass growth, forcing some farmers to use fodder originally reserved for winter. Farms in parts of Carlow, Laois and Kilkenny are understood to be among those experiencing significant pressure. The committee will assess the national and regional fodder situation and consider what measures may be needed. A Teagasc fodder survey is also expected to provide a clearer picture of stocks across the country.
Minister Heydon acknowledged that the conditions are increasing costs and causing stress for affected farmers. He encouraged anyone experiencing cash-flow difficulties to engage with their banks, merchants and co-operatives.
“The Government is committed to supporting the sector in what has been a difficult year,” he said. “The call from farm organisations for additional supports will be considered when the full picture is available and in the context of Budget 2027.” Requests from farm organisations for greater flexibility across a range of agricultural measures will also remain under review.
IFA president Mr Francie Gorman welcomed the reconvening of the committee, but said farmers now need firm proposals and practical action to address the worsening situation.
The prolonged dry spell has also affected parts of continental Europe, potentially limiting Ireland’s ability to source additional fodder from other EU countries if domestic shortages deepen.
The deteriorating condition of the River Suir cannot be treated as a new discovery.
For years, residents, anglers and environmental campaigners have raised concerns about pollution, excessive vegetation, restricted flows and the general neglect of the river through Thurles and surrounding areas. Yet meaningful, coordinated action by elected representatives, Tipperary County Council and the responsible State agencies has been painfully slow. VIEW HERE and note date, November 7th 2013.
Note the dates of the following links published over the past 13 years
Recent statements and a carefully produced publicity videos may create the impression of decisive political intervention. But inspections, promises and political photo opportunities are not substitutes for an agreed restoration programme, clear accountability and work on the ground.
Ministerial Visit Raises More Questions Than It Does Answers. Minister of State Mr Kevin Moran recently visited sections of the Suir in Thurles and Holycross following representations from Independent TD Mr Michael Lowry. Not for the first time Deputy Lowry says the Office of Public Works will support an application from Tipperary County Council, under the enhanced Minor Flood Mitigation Works Scheme. The expanded scheme reportedly allows councils to seek 95% funding for eligible works costing up to €2 million.
Pictures of the River Suir bed not shown in “Team Lowry’s” promotional video. The litter remains almost six weeks after the Liberty Music Festival, with no proper clean-up and no bin near “Wino’s Corner” despite repeated requests to Tipperary County Council.
All such commitments is welcome, but it remains only a commitment to support an application. The public has not yet been given a detailed proposal identifying:- The exact works to be undertaken. The evidence that those works will improve the river. The environmental assessments required. The project’s anticipated cost and timetable. The agencies responsible for delivering and monitoring it.
After years of warnings, the people of Tipperary are entitled to something more substantial than another announcement.
Where Have Our Representatives and Council Officials Been? The present condition of the Suir did not develop overnight. Local representatives and council officials have had ample opportunity to inspect the river, consult anglers and environmental groups, engage the relevant agencies and develop a long-term plan. Instead, the response has too often appeared fragmented and reactive.
Councillor Micheál Lowry and his father, Deputy Michael Lowry TD, are now drawing attention to conditions that local campaigners say have been evident for more than a decade. Their intervention must therefore be judged by what it delivers, not by the number of statements, videos or the ministerial visits it generates.
Other pictures of the River Suir bed not shown in “Team Lowry’s” promotional video. The litter remains in the river, together with 6 Supermarket trollies, almost six weeks after the Liberty Music Festival, with no proper clean-up and no bin near “Wino’s Corner” despite repeated requests to Tipperary County Council.
It should be noted:Thurles Town Park bye-laws were formally made by Tipperary County Council acting through the Templemore–Thurles Municipal District, and they came into operation on March 1st 2016. Available evidence indicates that those bye-laws then regulated alcohol consumption in the park, but this bye-law today remains totally ignored by all and sundry.
The same standard must be applied to Tipperary County Council. If the Council intends to seek OPW funding, it should publish its proposal and explain how any vegetation removal, blockage clearance or flood-related work will be reconciled with water quality, fisheries and habitat protection.
This Is More Than a Question of Appearance The problem cannot be reduced to reeds, bulrushes or an untidy riverbank. The Suir catchment covers approximately 3,500 square kilometres. Catchments.ie has previously identified excess phosphorus from sources including wastewater, animal waste and fertilisers as a major water-quality pressure. Excess nutrients can drive eutrophication, damaging aquatic habitats and reducing ecological quality. Catchments.ie’s Suir assessment also shows why pollution sources vary across the catchment and require targeted measures rather than a single cosmetic response.
Low summer flows, pollution, heavy plant growth, sediment and physical obstructions may interact, but they are not necessarily the same problem. Removing vegetation without identifying the underlying causes will not, by itself, restore the river. Any intervention must be scientifically informed and developed with the relevant environmental and fisheries authorities.
Too Many Agencies—and Too Little Accountability Responsibility for the Suir is spread across numerous organisations, including: Tipperary County Council. The River Basin Management Service, (formerly LAWPRO). The Environmental Protection Agency. Inland Fisheries Ireland. The Office of Public Works. Uisce Éireann. The National Parks and Wildlife Service. Local landowners, anglers and recreational organisations.
This above complicated structure cannot continue to provide cover for delay and buck-passing. The public needs to know which body is leading the response, what each agency is responsible for and when measurable improvements will be delivered. The failure to prominently involve or even acknowledge the River Basin Management Service in recent Lowry political presentations is particularly difficult to understand.
Community Initiatives Must Be Supported; but Properly Coordinated. The Cashel, Golden and Tipperary Anglers Association is reportedly considering seeking assistance to hire specialist equipment to remove bulrushes from parts of the riverbed. Separately, NoreVision is reported to be progressing proposals for River Suir and River Barrow trusts. Such trusts could help communities undertake practical restoration, education and awareness projects, provided they have appropriate scientific guidance, sustainable funding and constructive relationships with public agencies. Community organisations can make an enormous contribution, but volunteers should not be expected to compensate indefinitely for failures of statutory responsibility.
Public “Save Our Suir” Meeting in Cahir. A public information meeting is scheduled following a recent committee meeting of the Cashel, Golden and Tipperary Anglers Association. Date: Wednesday, August 26th, 2026. Time: 7:30pm. Venue: Cahir House Hotel. Tel.: 052 7443000. Admission: Open to all. Note: I could not independently locate an official online notice confirming the above event, thus intending attendees should check the organiser’s latest announcement before travelling.
The “Save Our Suir” proposed meeting offers residents, anglers, landowners, recreational users and environmental campaigners an opportunity to hear what is being proposed and to demand answers from those responsible.
The Suir Needs a Plan; NOT Another Vote Catching Publicity Exercise. The River Suir is an ecological, recreational and economic asset belonging to the entire community. Its future cannot be protected through disconnected funding announcements, short-term clearance projects or political sound-bites.
Those attending any Cahir meeting should demand: A published, science-based assessment of the river’s condition. Identification and investigation of pollution sources. A costed restoration and maintenance programme. A clear division of responsibility among the Council and State agencies. Meaningful consultation with anglers, environmental specialists, landowners and residents. Public reporting against firm delivery dates.
After years of warnings, elected representatives and council officials must be held accountable for the absence of effective action. The question is no longer whether the River Suir is under pressure. The question is who will take responsibility and how soon tangible work will begin.
Most of Ireland’s Local Authorities Strengthen Environmental Enforcement in 2025.
Ireland’s local authorities delivered a strong environmental enforcement performance in 2025, with 83% of assessments under the National Enforcement Priorities rated Strong or Excellent. The EPA’s latest performance report shows that environmental teams across the country carried out more than 252,000 inspections, responded to 85,500 complaints, took 23,550 enforcement actions and initiated 386 prosecutions during the year.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Galway City Council and South Dublin County Council achieved the required standard across every National Enforcement Priority. All 31 local authorities also met the required standard for tackling illegal waste. Despite the positive overall results, the EPA identified areas where enforcement must improve. Seventeen per cent of assessments fell below the required standard, while Leitrim County Council and Sligo County Council did not meet the required standard across several priority areas. Particular attention is now needed in relation to waste segregation, discharges to water and transport noise. The EPA has called on local authorities to maintain momentum, allocate sufficient resources and ensure that enforcement is consistent across the country.
Tipperary County Council. While Tipperary County Council recorded positive results across several environmental enforcement priorities in 2025, the EPA assessment indicates that improvement is needed in two important areas.
The council received yellow ratings for its performance under the Environmental Noise Directive and for discharge licences and Misconnections. These ratings indicate that the work carried out did not reach the required Strong or Excellent standard.
The Environmental Noise Directive requires local authorities to identify harmful transport-noise exposure, prepare action plans and demonstrate that appropriate measures are being implemented. Tipperary County Council should clarify what actions are planned, when they will be completed and how progress will be measured.
The rating for Discharge Licences and Misconnections is also a concern. Incorrect wastewater connections and poorly controlled discharges can result in pollution entering surface-water drains, rivers and streams. Stronger inspections, licence reviews, investigations and enforcement follow-up may be required to protect water quality.
Visual Confirmation:State of the Suir River setin the heart of Thurles today; left uncleared since the recent Liberty Music Festival, which was held on Saturday July 4th and Sunday 5th, 2026 last.
These findings do not suggest failure across the council’s entire environmental programme. They do, however, show that enforcement must be consistent across every priority area. Tipperary County Council should respond by publishing clear corrective actions, measurable targets and realistic timelines for improvement. The report also highlights targeted work carried out in Tipperary’s firewood sector. Eleven firewood producers were contacted and provided with information on their obligations under solid-fuel legislation, including EPA registration and certification requirements. Following this engagement, three producers registered with the EPA and six began working towards certification through the Wood Fuel Quality Assurance Scheme. Two newly identified producers remain subject to further follow-up.
The Tipperary initiative demonstrates how inspections, education and sustained engagement can improve compliance. It also shows that continued oversight is necessary to ensure firewood meets the required quality and moisture standards, protects air quality and supports responsible producers.
The EPA will continue to monitor local-authority performance and work with councils to improve environmental outcomes for communities throughout Ireland.
The Ribbon Men in Tipperary; Where They Came From, Where They Went And Why They Are Less Spoken About in Irish History.
The Ribbon Men were part of the wider movement known as Ribbonism, a Catholic secret-society tradition that grew in Ireland during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They did not begin in Tipperary alone. Their roots are usually traced to the Defender movement of the 1790s, especially in Ulster, where Catholic communities organised for protection in a time of sectarian tension and political unrest. Over time, Ribbonism spread beyond the north and became associated with rural grievances, tenant rights, resistance to tithes, opposition to evictions, and hostility towards landlords, agents, informers, and process servers. Historians describe Ribbonism as both a secret society and a form of community defence, though government officials often used the name loosely for many kinds of rural disorder.
In Tipperary, the Ribbon Men entered a county already well known for agrarian conflict. Long before them there had been Whiteboys, and later there were Rockites, Terry Alts, Caravats, Shanavests, and other local factions. Tipperary’s land system, poverty, insecurity of tenure, tithes, evictions, competition for farms, and resentment of middlemen created the conditions in which secret societies could take hold. From the 1760s onwards the county was heavily involved in these rural movements, under different names and with changing motives.
Their activities in Tipperary were usually not open political rebellion in the modern sense. They worked in secret and at night. They used oaths, passwords, threatening letters, armed visits to houses, raids for firearms, attacks on property, intimidation of tenants, latter who took land from evicted families, and warnings to employers or landlords. Some actions were violent and sometimes deadly. Others were intended to frighten rather than kill. A National Archives record from 1828, for example, refers to Ballingarry Glebe, (NR), near Borrisokane and the forwarding of new oaths sworn by entrants into the “Ribband System.” This is important because it places Ribbon organisation, not just vague agrarian unrest, in north Tipperary.
The evidence suggests that Ribbon and Ribbon-like activity was strongest in north and mid Tipperary. The Ormond districts, especially around Borrisokane and Nenagh, appear repeatedly in studies of threatening notices and rural intimidation. Daniel Grace’s study of threatening notices in pre-Famine Tipperary found that land was the dominant issue behind such threats, and that the northern baronies of Upper and Lower Ormond produced a particularly high concentration of notices. Other places connected with this wider pattern include Thurles, Roscrea and Ikerrin, Templemore, Borrisoleigh, Cashel, Golden, Bansha, Tipperary town, Killenaule, Mullinahone, Carrick-on-Suir, Cahir, and Clonmel. Some of these places were centres of actual incidents; others were police, court, or administrative centres where cases were reported, tried, or investigated.
Where did they go? In one sense, they did not simply go anywhere. Ribbonism changed shape. Some members emigrated, especially to Britain and America, bringing forms of Irish Catholic fraternal organisation with them. Scholarship on Ribbon societies shows that the tradition did not remain purely rural or purely Irish; it also appeared among Irish migrant communities in Britain and later influenced Catholic fraternal organisations such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians. In Ireland itself, the Ribbon Men faded as new movements took the stage. The Young Irelanders, the Fenians, the Land League, the Irish Parliamentary movement, and later revolutionary nationalism, latter which gave people different languages and structures for protest. The old secret agrarian oath-bound society became less central.
There are several reasons why the Ribbon Men are less spoken about today. First, they were secretive. They did not leave behind manifestos, membership lists, or proud public records in the way later political organisations did. Much of what we know comes from police reports, court records, hostile newspapers, informers, and government correspondence. These sources are useful, but they are also biased and often confused.
Second, the term “Ribbonman” was sometimes used too broadly. Officials could blame almost any unsolved agrarian crime on Ribbonism. This makes it difficult to separate genuine Ribbon organisation from Faction Fights, local feuds, Whiteboy activity, Rockite activity, or ordinary crime. Historians therefore handle the term carefully.
Third, their story is morally uncomfortable. They were not simply heroes or villains. They defended poor Catholic tenants in a harsh land system, but they also used intimidation and violence. That complexity does not fit easily into the cleaner patriotic story often told about later Irish nationalism.
Finally, Tipperary’s later history overshadowed them. The Famine, the Land War, the War of Independence, Soloheadbeg, and the Civil War became larger parts of public memory. Compared with those events, the Ribbon Men belong to a darker, earlier, more secretive world of oath-bound rural resistance.
Yet they matter. To understand Tipperary in the nineteenth century, we must remember not only the famous leaders and public movements, but also the hidden networks of ordinary people who acted from fear, anger, loyalty, and desperation. The Ribbon Men were part of that hidden history.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Recent Comments