A Co Clare farmer with previous convictions for livestock offences has been fined €10,000 and given a nine-month suspended jail sentence after he was convicted of moving cattle into a restricted herd.
Peter Stritch (37), of Bellisle, Clonlara, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of moving animals into a restricted holding between January 2001 and May 2001.
Last May he was fined €25,000 and received a four-month suspended jail sentence after he was convicted of a number of offences, including importing some 150 cattle from the North contrary to BSE controls.
Yesterday, at Limerick District Court, Judge Tom O'Donnell was told that a restriction order was placed on Stritch's herd in December 2000 after milk samples taken from his cattle tested positive for brucellosis.
The court heard from Ms Elma Sheahan, prosecuting, that once a restriction order was placed on a herd no cattle could be moved in or out of the holding for the duration of the order.
Ms Mary Bourke, a veterinary inspector with the Department of Agriculture, said that after checking the Cattle Movement Monitoring System (CMMS) - the Department's system for tracing animals - she discovered that 24 cows had been moved to a farm in Co Meath. The court heard that following a further investigation by Ms Bourke, the cattle were in fact moved into Stritch's herd, which was still under the restriction order.
According to Ms Bourke the "integrity of the CMMS system was completely compromised" as a result of this action. Brucellosis was a "highly-contagious" disease. "Moving cattle in this way is a very serious matter from a disease point of view. Ireland is an export country, and our brucellosis-free status is very important to us and anything that compromises this is very serious."
She said if a herd becomes depopulated as a result of disease then it would be the taxpayer who would be faced with paying the farmer's compensation.
Defence solicitor Ms Pat Barriscale said the matter would have been "much more serious" if the cattle had been moved out of the restricted herd.
Judge O'Donnell fined Stritch €10,000 and ordered him to pay the cost of the Department's investigation, which amounted to €3,000. He also imposed a nine-month jail sentence, but suspended it provided Stritch was of good behaviour for two years.