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Outbreaks of foot and mouth disease throughout England and Ireland hampered the plans of many University of Maine students headed on a spring break trip to Galway, Ireland as a part of their Introduction to Irish Culture class.
“Ireland is basically one big pasture,” Janelle Tonti, a third-year engineering student, said. “And since most of the sites we planned on seeing were located in fields and pastures we were not allowed to go to many of them.”
The fear of spreading foot and mouth, a disease that infects cows and sheep with sores on their hooves and tongues, resulted in travel restrictions throughout Ireland and made access to many historic and tourist sites difficult. The class learned about this problem and made changes to their itinerary just a week before they left for Ireland.
“Most of the museums and visitor sites were closed, all outdoor sports events had been canceled, and trips onto farms were banned,” Kay Retzlaff, the trip’s leader and a lecturer in modern languages and classics for Continuing Education, said.
Substitute activities for the class included horseback riding, tours of Western Ireland and a ferry ride to the Aran Islands in Galway Bay.
“We went to a lot of churches and cathedrals instead of the ancient ruins and historical sites,” said Tonti, “The churches all started to blend together after a while.”
Tonti said the change of plans was a disappointment for the group. Local residents were upset by the restrictions because they too have to follow the travel restrictions.
“Our tour guide arranged other events for us to make up for any feelings of loss,” Retzlaff said.
A trip to Clonmacnoise, one of the earliest Christian sites in Ireland, was canceled and access was limited to the Poulnabrone Dolmen, a prehistoric burial site, which was located in the middle of a cow pasture.
“We went on a tour of a big house of the Ascendary, one of the few that wasn’t torn down or destroyed at the time Ireland became a separate nation in the early 20th century,” Retzlaff said. “The home’s owner was originally from Massachusetts and treated us like home folks.”
Events planned for St. Patrick’s Day were also difficult for the class.
“Usually they have a parade and dye the river green, but they couldn’t do that this year,” said Tonti. “The town was extremely crowded nonetheless and all the pubs were full.”
To avoid spreading foot and mouth disease, the Irish have taken special precautions in all public areas. People were expected to walk across large disinfected mats to clean their shoes before entering shops, churches and public buildings. The bus’s tires were also disinfected at one of the sites the group visited.
“The process of disinfecting to get into a restaurant in Galway was more difficult than the one we needed to do to get back into the United States,” Tonti said.
Another precaution has been to slaughter all livestock living within a 10-kilometer radius of suspected cases.
“The folks that I dealt with in the tourist industry were extremely worried,” Retzlaff said. “They felt that the farmers were going to be reimbursed by the government, but that the tourist industry was going to be really hurting.”
Despite the circumstances, Retzlaff hopes students recognized the stereotypes of Irish culture are often misrepresented in popular culture and the media.
“This was a great trip,” Retzlaff said. “The students were great and really engaged the culture.”
