No progress since 2015 in case of polluting farm

A NORTH Kerry farmer prosecuted for polluting local watercourses had his case adjourned at Listowel District Court on Thursday to allow him time to draft a plan to tackle the problem.

John Martin Murphy, Aghamore South, Causeway, was prosecuted by Kerry County Council before Judge David Waters at Thursday’s sitting of the court under the provision of EU Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Waters Regulations 2014.

He was prosecuted for – on February 8, 2017 – having failed to ensure that rain water from roofs was directed away from soiled water area; for failing to ensure manure and soiled water did not run off into groundwaters and for using or permitting livestock manure and other organic fertilisers into a watercourse.

KCC Environmental Officer Mark O’Sullivan told the court he first inspected the farm back in 2015, identifying the problems and giving Mr Murphy nearly two years to sort the matter.

However, on Mr O’Sullivan’s return on February 2017 ‘matters were exactly the same as on the first visit’. Mr O’Sullivan inspected the farm again last week to find nothing had changed.

Solicitor John Cashell told the court that his client holds that the main cause of the problem was a new road drain installed on the public road adjacent to his land. “A road drain was put in, putting water onto his land... he has made the point that a lot of the problem with the water is that it is coming from the road, not the gutters,” Mr Cashell said.

Mr O’Sullivan said the landowner had raised the issue with him, showing him the drain on the 2015 inspection. But Mr O’Sullivan found it did not ‘really impact’ on the situation.

Council solicitor James Morris pointed out that responsibility lies with landowners for receiving waters coming from public roadways and dispensing with it without damage to the environment. Mr Cashell explained that his client has now hired an agricultural adviser to draw up a plan to address all pollution issues on the farm.

Judge Waters adjourned the case to allow time for the forthcoming plan to be put into practice; giving Mr Murphy one last chance to clean up his farm operation. “If he hasn’t made substantial progress, I’ll finalise the matter,” the judge warned.