The Irish Farmers' Association is facing a £100,000 fine for every day that farmers continue to picket meat factories in breach of court orders. So far, it has incurred fines of £200,000 which will rise to £300,000 if pickets continue today.
In the High Court yesterday Mr Justice O'Donovan ordered the imposition of the daily fine against the IFA for breaching an injunction granted on Wednesday night to stop picketing at meat factories throughout the State.
The £100,000-a-day fine is backdated to Thursday. By Monday, when the case comes back to the High Court, the IFA will have to pay £500,000 if the picketing continues. Costs were also awarded against the association. Mr Justice O'Donovan also ordered that property of the IFA be sequestered and said he would deal with that aspect of the case on Monday. He was told the IFA had assets of £5 million.
He warned earlier yesterday that he was not going to have his order of Wednesday night flouted and "thrown back in my face". He adjourned the case until later in the day when counsel for the IFA said he regretted that he was not in a position to give undertakings that the court orders would be obeyed.
Mr Justice O'Donovan said he regretted the attitude of the IFA and two of its officers who were also named as defendants, the IFA president, Mr Tom Parlon, and Mr Raymond O'Malley. He said it did not bode well that an organisation as important as the IFA had "taken up arms" against the court because that was what it was doing.
The judge also said a Minister of State had not come out of the matter very well either by refusing to comment on the IFA's refusal to comply with the law. "I would have thought he would at least have paid lip service to upholding the law," he added.
On Wednesday Mr Justice O'Donovan had granted a temporary injunction to run until yesterday restraining the IFA, Mr Parlon, Mr O'Malley and any persons with notice of the order from picketing at the meat plants. The injunction was sought by 16 meat plants.
Farmers have been protesting outside meat plants in a dispute over the imposition of a veterinary inspection fee levy on suppliers using the plants.
Before the court yesterday was an application for an interlocutory injunction to halt picketing. Mr Michael Collins SC, for the 16 meat plants, said contempt of court for breach of a court order was punishable in a variety of ways, although his clients had no particular desire to put any IFA member in prison.
Mr Justice O'Donovan said he could not sit back and see his order deliberately flouted. He would adjourn the hearing until the afternoon and he wanted some form of undertaking that there would be compliance with Wednesday's order.
When the hearing resumed, Mr Richard Nesbitt SC, for the defendants, explained the background and the farmers' opposition to the levy. He said it was a matter of the deepest regret that they found themselves in conflict with the court. He submitted that the meat companies were acting in an anti-competitive and illegal way in relation to the levy.
Mr Justice O'Donovan said: "The only thing that will solve my problem is that my orders are obeyed. I will not tolerate the way I have been deliberately flouted."
Mr Nesbitt asked the court to give the earliest possible date for the interlocutory hearing to allow his side to make its arguments.
Mr Collins read out a draft of a statement which, his clients believed, could be made by the IFA. It suggested that the association, having regard to the restraining order granted by the court, call on its members to comply with its terms. He said the IFA had assets of more than £5 million. Fines of £100,000 a day could be imposed for breach of a court order. The judge said that was the figure he had in mind.
He again adjourned the case to see if any undertakings would be given by the defendants. When the hearing resumed, Mr Nesbitt, who had consulted IFA leaders, said it was with the greatest regret that his clients were unable to give the undertakings which had been sought.
Mr Justice O'Donovan said he could not ignore the flouting of the law, particularly by an organisation as important as the IFA. The whole system would break down and people would do what they liked.