Anyone who keeps birds or poultry is being ordered to house them indoors from today.
The tightened rules to protect against bird flu will apply to all owners - even those with just a few hens or ducks.
It follows the discovery of bird-flu in a a swan in Co. Cavan, while the deaths of a number of sea-birds have also been attributed to the strain of avian flu which has swept across Europe.
Professor Thijs Kuiken from the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, says lessons aren't being learned from other recent outbreaks.
"I'm very surprised that given the recent history of COVID-19, that we are so complacent about this virus, which is spreading more and more widely, and yet we don't seem to be worried about."
