On Wednesday, Mrs Rodgers re-emphasised that the lifting of the European export ban on Northern Ireland animal products could be jeopardised by farmers' refusal to co-operate with an extended precautionary cull of sheep on the Cooley Peninsula in the Meigh restriction zone.

BBC: Farm in Thisk in Northern Ireland

The cull is to affect sheep on farms in the three-kilometre radius of the outbreak at Meigh.

BBC: Farm in Thisk in Northern Ireland

The wider cull was postponed on Tuesday after farmers protested against plans to bury 2, 500 dead sheep at the south Armagh beauty spot Slieve Gullion Forest Park.

BBC: Farm in Thisk in Northern Ireland