9
FOOT AND MOUTH In late August of 1979 a letter landed on the desk of the private secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. The anonymous writer demanded a ransom of £5 million from the State – roughly €27.25 million at today’s rates. If the money was not forthcoming, he and his co-conspirators would unleash the Foot and Mouth virus on the State. It was an attempt at blackmail, at the extortion of a huge sum of money using the threat of biological warfare. We would discover during our investigation that among the plotters were a barrister, no less, and his associate, a former member of the Saor Éire terrorist splinter group – the same individual who had orchestrated the cheque fraud at the Taghmon branch of Bank of Ireland. It was a one-page letter, typed. The Minister for Agriculture at the time was Jim Gibbons. I reproduce it here exactly as it was written at the time, mistakes and all:
