A Co Limerick farmer has been on hunger strike since last weekend inside the Department of Agriculture offices in Raheen, Limerick, in protest at the Government's failure to process Rural Environment Protection Scheme (Reps) payments for more than 6,000 farmers.
The Reps scheme is designed to reward farmers for carrying out work in an environmentally friendly manner and Donal O'Brien claims he has not received any such payment since last August.
The father of four began his protest at the Raheen offices last Thursday and has been on hunger strike since Saturday evening.
On Sunday, hundreds of farmers and IFA representatives rallied in his support outside the departmental offices. They were joined by Irish Farmers' Association president Padraig Walshe who said the protest as clear evidence of the growing anger among farmers whose payments were being held up.
According to Mr O'Brien, farmers have been unable to get an answer from the Minister for Agriculture as to when they are going to receive their Reps payments. "We're being told our wages are being frozen, but we don't know when it's going to be paid and that's the answer we actually got from the Minister," he said.
It has emerged that the department may have to go to court to seek permission to remove Mr O'Brien from its offices. He was listed on a High Court injunction in 2006 when he was one of a number of residents from Pallaskenry, Co Limerick, who staged a protest to stop the local authority from connecting the local water supply to the River Deel supply. The protesters claimed the river was contaminated.