A Co Roscommon farmer has initiated High Court proceedings against Mr John Ellis TD to recover money owed to him after the collapse in 1986 of a meat company owned by the deputy and his two brothers.
Mr John Finnegan is one of a number of farmers who have refused to accept a deal, brokered by the IFA, for a total payment of €152,369 by the Fianna Fáil TD and one of his brothers.
The IFA is now allocating this money but some of the 80 farmers involved have refused to accept the payment, describing it as "an insult". About 12 of those creditors met in Sligo on Tuesday night.
When Stanlow Trading Ltd collapsed in 1986 more than £300,000 was owed to the farmers in amounts ranging from £200 to £21,000. The farmers affected were mainly from Cos Mayo, Roscommon and Donegal, as most of those living in Mr Ellis's Sligo-Leitrim constituency were eventually paid.
The IFA said the deal agreed with Mr Ellis and his brother Caillian was the best that could be achieved. A third brother, Mr Richard Ellis, who lives in the Isle of Man, refused to contribute.
It was established in the courts that the Ellis brothers were not personally liable for the debts of Stanlow Trading Ltd. But a campaign to secure payment for the farmers began in 1999 after it emerged that Mr John Ellis had a £263,000 debt at National Irish Bank written off for a payment of £20,000 in 1991, and that Mr Charles Haughey gave £26,000 to him to save him from bankruptcy.
The controversy forced Mr Ellis to resign as chairman of the Oireachtas joint committee on agriculture. He accepted then that he had a "moral" responsibility to try to make some payment to farmers but after the €152,369 (£120,000) was agreed with the IFA, he said the issue was closed.
Mr Finnegan said this week he and other farmers were angry because the creditors had not given the IFA a mandate to settle on this amount. "Some farmers are not accepting this and we are continuing to fight for the price of our cattle," he said.
He lodged papers in the High Court in Dublin last week and he is taking the proceedings in a personal capacity. Mr Finnegan said he and other creditors had suffered significant stress and hardship. At a time when Mr Ellis was getting debts written off, the farmers were being hassled by the banks, he said.