A farmer and cattle dealer has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment for having cattle in his possession with ear tags belonging to other animals.
Kevin Tuite (33) of Swiftcourt, Trim, Co Meath, pleaded guilty at Mullingar Circuit Court yesterday to four sample charges from a total of 67 charges of having the animals in his possession on May 3rd, 2001. He received three concurrent years on each charge, with leave to appeal refused.
The case was due to begin a three-week hearing with 144 witnesses to be heard, but Tuite changed his plea to guilty on Friday last, November 28th.
Nonetheless, Judge Anthony Kennedy said Tuite could have sabotaged the entire system where the reputation of one of our national assets is paramount.
"A suspended sentence is unrealistic in the circumstances and others need to be restrained," Judge Kennedy added.
The case was heard as a result of Operation Oxblood, a joint Garda and Department of Agriculture operation designed to stamp out fraudulent use of animal tags and the tagging of cheaper animals from Northern Ireland whose movement was restricted because of BSE regulations.
Det Sgt Gerry Nohilly told the court investigators were unable to ascertain what happened to the original animals to which the tags related, or to ascertain the provenance of the animals on Tuite's land to which the tags were attached. Of Tuite's herd of 109 animals, 91 were destroyed following the investigation.