A judge has told a north Clare farmer that if he hasn’t removed by today (Thurs) 14 ewes and their lambs from a one and a half acre field owned by his brother, he will be sending him to jail.
At Ennis District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan told the 51 year old Co Clare farmer in relation to the sheep, “I don’t care where they go – if they are not gone, you are going to jail”.
He told the farmer: “You must have every ewe and lamb removed from the lands by tomorrow. If they are not removed you are going down to Limerick prison.”
Judge Durcan told the man that he must also have the ownership cards of the 29 cattle currently located in the field at Gort District Court on Thursday.
Judge Durcan told the farmer that if didn’t have all of the ownership cards, he would be revoking the man’s bail and would be sending him to Limerick prison.
The man is before the court after breaching a barring order concerning his brother by entering his brother’s property on March 21st and as the case relates to a domestic violence order, the names of the parties can’t be disclosed.
The farmer has pleaded guilty to breaching the barring order and Sgt Aiden Lonergan of Ennis Garda Station said that an undertaking was given in court two weeks ago that all animals would be removed by the farmer within seven days.
Garda Lorraine Higgins told the court on Wednesday that following an inspection of the lands at 10am all animals were still in situ.
Garda Higgins said that she spoke to the farmer before court and “I don’t believe he has any place to put any of these animals in the near future”.
Solicitor for the farmer, John Casey said that his client has complied with the parts of the order of the court where his client has undertaken not to go anywhere near the land himself.
Mr Casey said that this was the man’s brother’s main worry and that a named third party has been looking after the animals.
Judge Durcan said that the difficulty in moving the cattle off the land is that you can’t move livestock ‘willy-nilly’.
Garda Andrew Monahan told the court that that the farmer requires a removal cert for the animals stating that the original difficulty was that the farmer didn’t have a removal cert to move the livestock onto the lands in the first place.
Garda Monahan said that there are 29 cattle and 14 ewes with lambs on 1.5 acres at the moment.
Judge Durcan said that “the lambs will easily find a home”.
In response, Garda Monahan said that the lambs are only a few weeks old “and where the sheep go, the lambs go”.
In evidence, the farmer told of his efforts to secure alternative lands for the animals at three locations.
Judge Durcan also ordered that a Dept of Agriculture official be in court in Gort to deal with the ownership certs.
He said: “Let’s put this on a proper track.”
