High Court dismisses Department’s judicial review over duck egg notices

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The High Court dismissed the Minister for Agriculture’s judicial review of a District Court decision that annulled two statutory notices served on duck farmer John Fitzgerald. The Department is also pursuing a separate Circuit Court appeal against the District Court decision.

The notices were served in August 2024 and related to the recall of duck eggs and the cessation of their supply and sale after salmonella was detected in a faecal sample from the farm. Fitzgerald appealed against both notices. In December 2025, the District Court allowed his appeals and annulled them.

Fitzgerald argued that sampling had failed to follow standard operating procedures which his legal counsel said were mandatory; the Department maintained that they were guidelines. Judge Catherine Hayden found that the collection of the samples fell far short of the Department’s sampling protocol and that the procedures were mandatory.

In a judgment delivered on July 24, 2026, Justice Garrett Simons said the Minister had not identified a convincing reason to determine the dispute by judicial review rather than through the pending Circuit Court appeal. The judge’s provisional view was that Fitzgerald was entitled to recover his legal costs. The Department estimated its own costs at €52,000, while Fitzgerald estimated his at €154,000.