The Minister for Agriculture has been ordered by the High Court to feed hundreds of sheep he ordered off The Curragh common grazing land as part of foot-and-mouth precautions.
Mr Percy Podger, a Co Kildare farmer, told Mr Justice Roderick Murphy his ewes and lambs were dying from starvation every day on his 75-acre farm at French Furze, Co Kildare.
Mr Justice Murphy granted Mr Podger an interlocutory injunction requiring the Minister to provide alternative land or foodstuffs until the date of the trial of Mr Podger's action against the Minister or until such time as sheep may be allowed back on The Curragh.
Mr Peter Bland, counsel for Mr Podger, said his client's flock of 1,000 ewes and lambs had eaten bare all of the grazing available on the farm. He had been supplementing their feed by buying nuts and hay but he was unable to continue buying in food because of mounting bank liabilities.
Mr Bland said Mr Podger's flock had been ordered off The Curragh by Mr Tom Myers, a Department of Agriculture senior veterinary inspector, and gardai on foot of a ministerial order on March 26th last. He had since discovered the statutory authority for the order had not come into operation until March 27th and he claimed the order was invalid.
