Farmer jailed for 18 months over breaches of disease prevention rules

A Tipperary farmer has been jailed for 18 months for breaching of Department of Agriculture regulations governing the movement of animals and the prevention of disease on farms.

Clement Hayes of Ballinaveen, Emly, Co Tipperary was convicted of 57 offences following a trial at Tipperary District Court.

Hayes was convicted of 23 counts of failing to notify the Minister for Agriculture within seven days of the movement of an animal to a premises and was sentenced to five months in jail for the offences.

Hayes was also given a five month consecutive sentence after he was convicted of one count of moving or permitting a person to move an animal to a premises without a valid certificate of Cattle Movement Monitoring System (CMMS) compliance.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy also sentenced Hayes to a further four months consecutive on four counts of possessing an animal aged 27 days or older whose details had not been notified to the Minister for Agriculture and for which no passport had been issued.

Hayes was also given a four month consecutive sentence after he was convicted of one count of movement, sale or supply of an unregistered bovine and a four month concurrent sentence for transferring ownership or responsibility for a bovine animal to another person.

Judge McCarthy also convicted Hayes of a number of breaches of regulations regarding animal remedies, bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis in cattle but marked them taken into consideration. Recognisances were fixed in the event of an appeal.