Drung farmer to sue agriculture minister

A Drung farmer is suing the Minister for Agriculture for damages over a botched investigation into his cattle that led to a case being thrown out of court.

The prosecution of Douglas Fannin, a 200-acre farmer from Drung, was thrown out by Cavan Circuit Court’s Judge Leonie Reynolds in November 2013. She criticised the “heavy-handed” and “less than fair” approach taken by the department in wrongly accusing him of tampering with his cattle - the incorrect implication being that he would be compensated for the animals testing positive to brucellosis in a TB test.
On March 12, he launched a civil action in the High Court for damages against Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, the Garda Commissioner, the Irish state and the Attorney General.
The Special Investigation Unit at the department, which carried out the investigation, was disbanded following a critical internal review of the farmer’s case last year.
Mr Fannin declined to comment on the legal action but he has described his experience, which stretches back to 2009, as a “living nightmare”.
The civil action is expected to raise questions about the department’s handling of the case, including why the department allowed the slaughtered animals to enter the food chain if it suspected they were injected with an unknown, supposedly 'toxic’ substance.
The department’s internal review of Mr Fannin’s case did not blame officials but found “governance” and “procedural” problems.
Judge Reynolds, in throwing out the case, said Mr Fannin’s reputation and integrity were intact.
Cavan-Monaghan Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín ” Caoláin described the Department’s pursuit of Mr Fannin by the SIU as “unjustified and disgraceful” and described the internal review as “whitewash efforts” on the part of the Department.
After the case was thrown out, Deputy ” Caoláin went on Dáil record in questioning then Minister of State at the Department Tom Hayes:
“I ask the Minister of State to explain his and his Department’s failure to discipline those departmental employees - veterinary inspectors - who have failed to responsibly carry out their duties, who have put innocent farmers under severe personal stress and strain... [employees] who have admitted under oath that they allowed an animal enter the food chain that they believed had been injected with an unknown substance, which they acknowledged could have been toxic,” he said.
“They also stated that they did not believe it relevant that the animal had entered the food chain. Are these people serious?” asked Deputy O’Caoláin.
Deputy Hayes said that the question of disciplinary action did not arise since all the “required checks” were carried out before the release of the animals into the food chain.
When contacted yesterday (Tuesday) in relation to the latest development in the story, a spokesperson from the department said: “The Department does not comment on any individual cases before the courts, which have yet to be considered within that system.”