A Monaghan man who qualified as a barrister after leaving farming following a long-running dispute with the Department of Agriculture has lost his High Court claim for damages.
Mr John Rooney had claimed the State maliciously interfered with and damaged his farming business through its operation of the Bovine TB Eradication Scheme.
Ms Justice Laffoy yesterday dismissed the claim by Mr Rooney, of Bough, Scotstown, that the TB scheme had no legal basis, and was being operated by the Minister for Agriculture contrary to the Diseases of Animals Act 1966.
Mr Rooney had alleged there was no statutory compensation scheme for TB reactor cattle, and that the scheme introduced by the Department was not being operated in accordance with EU law and was contrary to the Constitution and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights.
He further alleged that 500,000 cattle have been unlawfully slaughtered since 1976 by the Department.
Up to 50 farmers have been jailed in that time for refusing to obey the TB scheme, he told the court.
Mr Rooney had been a farmer and claimed his cattle herd was restricted from movement from 1993 to 1996, following a test in which one cow was found to be a reactor.
He had previously informed the Department that any activity it undertook on his farm must comply with the 1966 Act.
The Department claimed Mr Rooney was prohibited from making the current claims because they had already been decided by earlier court hearings.
It was denied that the Bovine TB Eradication Scheme was being operated unlawfully. Allegations that the Department acted in bad faith towards Mr Rooney were also denied.
The Supreme Court had, in a decision in 1991, dismissed another challenge by Mr Rooney. It found there was in place "a reasonable scheme for providing a measure of assistance to herd owners of diseased cattle".
Ms Justice Laffoy said yesterday the nub of Mr Rooney's case was that the Minister was statutorily bound to pay him live market value, in effect the cost of acquiring a similar healthy animal.
The evidence was that the operation of the reactor grant scheme was the subject of consultation between the Department and farming community, and no change was introduced without consultation.
She held that Mr Rooney's herd had been lawfully restricted under Irish law.
He had persistently refused urgings to have one of his cows (which had been declared to be a reactor) slaughtered, and refused to initiate a process which would have led to de-restriction, she said.
The judge said Mr Rooney claimed damages for loss which, he had alleged, flowed from the restriction of his herd between 1993 and 1996.
That situation was brought about by his own conduct, she found. She dismissed his claim for damages arising out of the alleged unlawful restriction of his herd and trespass.