The Irish Farmers' Association is facing a bill of £500,000 after it apologised yesterday to the High Court for continuing to blockade meat plants for five days in defiance of court orders.
Mr Justice O'Donovan accepted the apology but warned that if any persons continued to picket he would deal with them "very severely" by imposing fines.
The IFA was fined £100,000 a day for each of the five days it was in breach of last Wednesday night's temporary injunction. It will also have to pay substantial legal costs up to and including Monday's proceedings.
No order was made in respect of yesterday's costs.
The decision to apologise and lift the blockade means the IFA will not have to pay a £500,000a-day fine ordered by the court on Monday to take effect from yesterday.
A cheque for the £500,000 fine is to be paid into the High Court central office by the IFA.
Yesterday, Mr Justice O'Donovan said he was delighted to learn that "at long last" the court order of Wednesday last was going to be obeyed.
He accepted the apology tendered, but reiterated that he was taking a very serious view of any order of the court being flouted in the manner in which his order was.
He did not propose varying his order for breach of the injunction over the last few days. But in so far as any picketing continued by individuals or members of the public he would ask that they be identified and he would deal with them personally.
"Let it be known that any person identified to me and picketing contrary to the order, I will deal with very severely," the judge said.
That did not necessarily mean sending anybody to prison. Fines were the sanction he would continue to impose.
Mr Justice O'Donovan continued the interlocutory injunction preventing picketing at the meat plants which had been granted on Monday.
The order applies to anybody with notice of it. The judge said it was unlikely that anybody in the State, from listening to news bulletins or reading the newspapers, was not aware of the position.
When the court sat yesterday, Mr John Rogers SC, for the IFA, referred to Monday night's meeting of the IFA in Portlaoise and read a resolution which had been passed.
The resolution, proposed by Mr Gerry Maguire and seconded by Mr John Boylan, said the IFA was to desist from all actions in breach of the court order.
It advised its solicitor, Mr Michael Staines, to undertake to the court on behalf of the IFA that it would comply with its orders.
It would undertake that the IFA, its officers and staff would not promote, encourage or procure breach of the order or ongoing picketing.
The resolution said no IFA official, paid or otherwise, would participate in organising or promoting the continuance of the picketing. No person in a position of authority by being a member or officer of a committee of the IFA was entitled to urge a policy contrary to that which had been decided by the council on Monday night, it added.
The national council regretted that the IFA had been in breach of the court order and wished this regret and an apology to be conveyed to the court.
Mr Rogers said the general secretary of the IFA, Mr Michael Berkery, confirmed in an affidavit the regret of the IFA for breaches of the court order and apologised to the court on behalf of the organisation. Mr Michael Collins SC, for the meat factories, said his side welcomed the apology. He added that the factories, as a gesture of goodwill, had announced they would not carry out any cattle killing for 48 hours.
Counsel said there still appeared to be blockades in place but hopefully this situation would change. In those circumstances, he was not asking that the £500,000-a-day fine be imposed.
Mr John O'Donnell, for accountant Mr Paul Wise, sequestrator to the IFA's assets, said his client had attended the offices of the organisation on Monday and was met with courtesy and co-operation.
The case was adjourned until tomorrow.