Watchdogs make no bones about work they do

ON THE site of the politically controversial Sports Campus Ireland project, in County Dublin, 213 farmers have been given the red card, since 1996.

When they hear the name, ‘Abbotstown’, they don’t think of the stop-go plans to build a headquarters for Irish sport, or of the National Aquatic and Leisure Centre, which is nearing completion in this north Dublin suburb.

Instead, the farmers think of the trauma of court proceedings and their convictions for producing contaminated farm produce. For 67 of them, their offences led to jail sentences, and, since 1996, convictions have resulted in fines totalling 8m being levied.