The Supreme Court has rejected a challenge by three County Tipperary landowners to regulations restricting the sale and leasing of milk quotas by people no longer actively producing milk.
Nicholas Philip, otherwise Martin, Maher, Malachy Brett and Rita Ryan challenged the European Communities (Milk Quota) Regulations 2000. The rules formed part of the EU system designed to control milk production and redirect quota towards active producers.
Mr Maher owned 130 acres at Cashel with a quota of about 28,170 gallons. Mr Brett jointly owned about 77 acres at Fethard with a quota of approximately 24,404 gallons. Ms Ryan owned 20 acres at Clonoulty with an 11,844-gallon quota. All three had ceased active milk production and relied to varying degrees on leasing quota.
The regulations restricted long-term leasing and generally prevented quota transferring automatically with land. They also provided a restructuring scheme under which quota could be surrendered for payment at a maximum price fixed by the Minister.
The appellants argued that the Minister had effectively made law in breach of the Constitution and that the restrictions unjustly interfered with their property rights.
Chief Justice Keane, delivering judgment, accepted that EU membership did not require Ireland to implement the detailed rules specifically by ministerial regulation rather than an Act of the Oireachtas. That meant the regulations were not automatically shielded from constitutional scrutiny merely because they implemented European rules.
However, the court concluded that the essential principles and policies of the milk quota system had already been laid down at European level. The choices left to Ireland were so constrained that the 2000 regulations did not amount to an unconstitutional exercise of the Oireachtas’s exclusive legislative power.
The property claim also failed. The court held that a milk quota was an advantage created by a regulatory scheme, not a property right protected by the Constitution. The farmers remained able to use their quotas if they resumed milk production.
The Supreme Court therefore dismissed the appeal and affirmed the High Court order.