A High Court order granted to a Cork farmer restraining Department of Agriculture personnel from slaughtering his herd following a BSE diagnosis in a cow is to continue until noon today.
Mr James Sutton, of Kilgarriffe House, Clonakilty, has rejected allegations that he imported a cow with BSE to claim compensation.
Mr Sutton said in an affidavit that since October 25th, when the animal was diagnosed as being BSE positive, his priority had "been searched by Department officials and gardai.
It had been indicated to him by Department officials that they had a suspicion about the origin of the cow. Mr Sutton said the implication was that the animal, which had been put down, was not the correct animal to be identified by an ear identity tug and that he (Mr Sutton) had switched the tag.
A further implication was that she had imported an animal which he knew was suffering from BSE to claim compensation. "I say these allegations are false and that the animal's ear tag was in no way interfered with," said Mr Sutton.
He said his solicitors received a letter saying it was proposed to slaughter his herd once an independent valuer had assessed the animals. It was grossly unfair to do this when the independent valuation was not known and it grossly interfered with his rights to arbitration.
Yesterday Mr Owen Wilson, a solicitor in the Chief State Solicitor's Office, told Mr Justice Costello that the restraining order was to continue until noon today. The judge adjourned the matter until April 14th.