Mr. Aidan O'Driscoll:

As the Deputy said, the case failed. It was one of the 10% of cases that fail. Why did it fail? It failed in the court because an issue in relation to a brucellosis test arose. The State’s case was actually about a TB test but, in the course of the court case, matters took a swerve towards a brucellosis test which was never part of the State’s case, and ultimately the case collapsed around the issue of the brucellosis test. I have read significant sections of the court transcript – not all of it – and that seems clear. The judge did make two core negative comments, in my view. First, she said the approach by the Department had been heavy-handed. Second, she criticised one of our key Department witnesses-----