The High Court has refused a farmer’s bid to quash a District Court ruling on cattle regulations and to prevent his trial on related charges.
Justice William M. McKechnie delivered judgment on 18 June 2010 in judicial review proceedings brought by Clement Hayes, a farmer in Emly, County Tipperary. Hayes was facing charges in Tipperary District Court over alleged breaches of rules concerning cattle testing, movement, identification and registration. The judgment says he had been served with 30 summonses in 2005 and a further 50 in 2006. The charges remained pending while the judicial review was heard.
Hayes challenged a District Court ruling delivered by Judge Finn on 26 February 2007. That ruling rejected his argument that Irish rules defining a cattle “holding” conflicted with European law. Hayes argued that Irish legislation referred to places where animals were “kept”, while the European definition also referred to animals being “held” or “handled”, and that the difference affected the charges against him.
The High Court found the Irish term could, in context, include places where animals were held or handled. It concluded that the national regulations had not improperly transposed the European definition, and rejected the related claim that Ireland had failed to implement the required cattle identification and registration system.
Hayes also argued that several ministerial orders and regulations exceeded the powers granted under the Diseases of Animals Act 1966 or the European Communities Act 1972. The court found the challenged provisions fell within the relevant statutory powers. It also rejected his argument that regulations made under the 1972 Act had impermissibly created or extended indictable offences, noting that breaches of the challenged identification and registration provisions were punishable summarily.
A further challenge argued that section 4 of the European Communities Act 1972 was unconstitutional because it gave statutory effect to ministerial regulations. The court rejected that claim, finding the provision was necessitated by Ireland’s EU membership. It also held that statutory instruments with statutory effect were covered by the Interpretation Acts. The court noted that the 1999 cattle identification regulations expressly took effect on 13 September 1999.
The court refused all relief sought. The judgment did not determine the pending District Court charges; those proceedings were left to continue.