Agriculture official says wrongdoing not properly investigated

A SENIOR official in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has alleged that fraud, widespread wrongdoing and regulation breaches have not been properly investigated in cases dating back almost a decade.

The official has also claimed that a number of investigations by Department inspectors were hampered by high-level political interference and vested interests.

In one case involving a Kilkenny-based company, Animal Farmacy, an investigation into what were described by an inspector as evidence of breaches of regulations was stopped in its early stages following representations to three senior politicians, including then taoiseach Enda Kenny.

There were also allegations against one of the investigators of corruption, assault and sexual harassment but two separate inquiries found they had no basis and no complaint was made to gardaí.

The Department’s legal adviser had urged for the investigation into Animal Farmacy to proceed and be finalised because the case was “caught in a thick blanket of political fog”.

In another case, it is alleged that a Department inspector was put under pressure from other senior officials not to give a statement to gardaí after a suspected fraud in An Bord Bia’s quality assured scheme. The subsequent Garda investigation resulted in a conviction for a vet and two farmers being sent for trial.

The first disclosure was made to the then minister Michael Creed in August, 2017. It contained eight separate claims of wrongdoing and was investigated internally. A report on the allegations was issued over three years later, last November, and found that the whistleblower had “not disclosed any evidence that a wrongdoing within the meaning of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 had been committed by any of the individuals” named. The whistleblower was moved into a new role in the Department following the first disclosure.

A second disclosure to the TD Catherine Murphy, containing further allegations, was made in July 2020. No findings have yet been made.

The most recent disclosure by the official was made three weeks ago, again to Ms Murphy. It deals with charges of animal cruelty against a Monaghan farmer which were dropped just days before the case was to be heard in the District Court last month. Among the allegations, it is claimed that local TD Heather Humphreys passed on a letter to the Department about the case. Humphreys subsequently confirmed this, but said she had not interfered in the case.

Other cases in the last four years detailed in the protected disclosures concerned a major fraud in the milk quota scheme and a prescription fraud to the tune of €70,000 plus VAT.

The full texts reveal a litany of abuses of regulations and law by vets, farmers and others — as well as allegations that investigations were not properly pursued. They paint a picture of favourable treatment to some over others, political interference in serious matters and of a Department which has been scaling back the number of investigations it is carrying out into fraud and corruption in the Irish food and agriculture industry.

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine said last Friday that it “takes its regulatory and prosecutorial function very seriously and for this reason is anxious to ensure that objectivity is always at the core of its decision-making in this area”.

The spokesperson added: “Objectivity is absolutely necessary for the responsible exercise of this important aspect of the Department’s work and all decisions based on Department investigations are fair and based on the public interest whether concluded by way of a criminal prosecution or otherwise.”