Cooley farmers lose cull test case

THE High Court has dismissed a test case to determine if hundreds of sheep farmers are entitled to additional compensation over the culling of their sheep flocks as a result of the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern ruled yesterday that two farmers, Brendan Rafferty and John Elmore, from the Cooley peninsula, Co Louth, had not established they were entitled to compensation beyond that already received.

While he found the losses suffered by both men went beyond the mere market value of their animals, he believed the compensation awarded was proportionate in all the circumstances and did not unreasonably delimit their property rights.

If the state was obliged to compensate farmers for full consequential loss, this would have “enormous implications” for the exchequer and impose a serious and disproportionate burden on the taxpayer.

The court was entitled to take into account many other people, including in the tourism sector, had suffered financial losses as a result of the outbreak and had received no compensation.

Mr Justice McGovern was delivering his reserved judgment on actions by Mr Rafferty and Mr Elmore against the Minister for Agriculture and Food and the state.

An estimated 400 farmers in the Cooley peninsula had to cull their flocks as a result of the 2001 outbreak.

Mr Rafferty lost 695 ewes and received £145,244 compensation while Mr Elmore lost 199 sheep and received £29,495.