GARDAI are investigating death threats arising out of the recent eviction of the Graham family from their 3,000 acre farm in Co Donegal. The threats are believed to have come from the Ulster Freedom Fighters.
The Garda, in a brief statement, confirmed that threats had been made and said it was taking "appropriate action."
Among those known to have been threatened were Mr John Keon, managing director of Donegal Creameries, who bought the farm for £3.7 million last week, and Mr Tom Grace, who acted as receiver for National Irish Bank.
A spokeswoman for Mr Grace said he was concerned about the threats and stressed he had done everything possible to resolve the dispute and to avoid the eventual outcome.
The UFF is believed to have claimed that the eviction three weeks ago was a sectarian action against Protestants, but the Graham family has rejected this and condemned the threats. They said such actions did not help their position.
Mr Keon was warned that his life would be in danger if he did not pull out of the purchase by an anonymous caller on Friday afternoon who used the code name David Savage. The 56 year old father of five said he was determined to carry on and described the threat as "distressing and inconvient."
He said: "I took the call at 2.30 p.m. on Friday. It did not sound particularly threatening, but the caller asked me to listen very carefully to what he had to say.
"The caller was not aggressive. He spoke in modulated tones. He didn't give the name of any organisation but used the code name Savage. He said my life would be in danger if I did not cooperate.
"I found the threat amazing as some of the creamery's directors and a large number of shareholders are non Catholic."
He rejected claims in a Sunday newspaper that his company, Donegal Creameries, was land grabbing when it bought the Grianan estate for £3.7 million last Wednesday.
"We bought the portion of the estate for the accompanying milk quota. That was our main objective. The Grahams were our suppliers until about 2 1/2 years ago, when they decided to go elsewhere."
The Graham family, who bought the farm in 1989 for over £3 million, were evicted three weeks ago because of failure to repay a loan from the National Irish Bank.
In a separate matter on Saturday two local farmers - Mr Gordon Elder and Mr Robert McClay - were granted an interim injunction to prevent the new owners from harvesting crops which they say they planted on lands leased from the Grahams.
Mr Elder said they had leased "very significant acreage" and they felt entitled to harvest the crops. He stressed they had no dispute with the owners about the buying of the land.
Their next step would be to seek a court ruling that they were entitled to the crops on the leased land and to permission to harvest them.