Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the appeals and the O'Connor case, this is a real case of David versus Goliath. A farmer took the Department to the High Court, where he won his case, but now finds he has another Everest to climb. In our part of the country, there is huge unease about the inspection procedure that was in operation. A significant number of farmers in our area suffered significant penalties. I know of a farmer who successfully re-appealed a decision and got some of his money back. I tabled a parliamentary question about the level of penalties applied by one particular office. This will not go away. Given the result in the O'Connor case, farmers have come back with renewed vigour and are appealing fines imposed in the past.

A number of farmers suffered 100% penalties. From the information presented to me, proper inspection procedures were not followed in many of the cases. It is a serious issue. I mentioned this before and the Minister said the Department had its reasons for appealing. From the farmer's point of view, however, it seems extremely unfair that after going to the High Court and winning the case, he or she has to go to the Supreme Court. The issue is not resting easily with farmers. A number of cases in which people feel they were not fairly treated in the appeals procedure are coming down the tracks in my area.