A TIPPERARY farmer was accused yesterday of collecting £7,800 in compensation payments from the Department of Agriculture by falsely representing animals in his herd as brucellosis reactors.
In what is believed to be the first case of its kind to be brought before the courts here, Mr James Crowe, a farmer, Cappawhite, Co Tipperary, denies administering an antiabortion vaccine to animals in 1994 which later showed up in Department tests as brucellosis.
The District Court in Thurles heard yesterday that Mr Crowe collected two separate compensation payments in June 1994 after 22 reactors were discovered in his herd.
He is also denying a charge of removing ear tags from two cattle on his farm.
Outlining the State's case, Mr Eanna Molloy said the farmer's herd was depopulated after positive brucellosis tests in 1993. He received £30,000 in compensation and his farm was sequestered for six months.
Mr Crowe then bought cattle in 1993, and in April 1994 requested Department officials to conduct tests in which 22 reactors showed up. All were slaughtered.
The animals were then traced by Department vet, Mr Michael Hartnett, but none was found to have come from brucellosis infected herds.
The case continues.