Two meat-exporting companies have taken High Court proceedings seeking £366,437 from the Minister for Agriculture and Food. The companies claim entitlement to export refunds for part of a beef shipment to the Middle East over 14 years ago.
Kildare Meats Ltd and Kildare Chilling Company Ltd say money is owed to them for part of a meat shipment unloaded in Beirut in June 1987. Kildare Meats exported over 476 kg of frozen boneless beef to Egypt and Lebanon. It claims it sought and received an advance export refund under an EU Commission regulation.
Most of the cargo was unloaded at Port Said, but a portion was rejected by the Egyptian authorities, and this was shipped to Beirut. The Minister for Agriculture is being sued as the intervention agent within the State for the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU, says Kildare Meats. Mr Richard Nesbitt SC, for both meat companies, said his clients want a declaration that a sum of £366,437 claimed by the Department of Agriculture on foot of a bank guarantee was payable to his clients.
Mr Nesbitt said the Minister's action was influenced by the EU Commission's attitude to what it was prepared to pay out at the end of the year.
If meat was rejected in Egypt, such a decision amounted to an arbitrary decision and was not connected to the fitness for consumption, counsel said.
It was certified when leaving the port of Greenore 15 days earlier. The action, which is being opposed by the Minister for Agriculture, continues today.