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.