Turlough cattle jobber ‘his own worst enemy’

A cattle jobber before court for nine breaches of the Animal Welfare Act has not caught up with the paperwork required for livestock in the 21st century, his solicitor has told the court.
John Hegarty (47) of Cashel, Turlough, Castlebar appeared before Castlebar District Court on Thursday last facing the charges in relation to incidents in 2017.
Daniel Gavaghan, an Inspector with the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine at Davitt House, Castlebar gave evidence of the breaches.
He said that following detection by gardaí, he found Mr Hegarty had two tag numbers for cattle that had no association with his herd, which is an offence.
Mr Gavaghan said that, arising from this, on October 2, 2017 he suspended Mr Hegarty’s tag number, also restricting the movement of animals in and out of his holding.
However, he told the court, an inspection of Mr Hegarty’s farm on November 1, 2017 discovered 15 tags not on Mr Hegarty’s profile. Mr Hegarty admitted he had bought these cattle and brought them into his holding after the restriction notice.
Of those 15, three were present on the farm and receipts showed two of them had been bought at a mart in Leitrim while one more was bought privately and brought for export but rejected at the point of export. Instead of being sent back to its original owner, this calf ended up on Mr Hegarty’s farm. All of these amounted to breaches of the restriction notice.
Defending solicitor Tom Walsh said his client is a jobber, one of a ‘dying breed’. He put it to Mr Gavaghan that John Hegarty has not caught up with the 21st century. Mr Gavaghan agreed fully.
Mr Gavaghan said none of these charges relate to any fears of disease in cattle on Mr Hegarty’s holding but added ‘we need full traceability’.
Mr Walsh said his client is the son of a jobber in Belmullet and that Mr Hegarty did not attend school past the age of 13. He rarely recalls going to school on Mondays as that is the day of the mart in Ballina. He said, as such, his client is poorly educated.
He said Mr Hegarty had failed in efforts to get a cattle dealer’s license from the Department, which, he said, would help his client considerably were he to get one. He said his client is married with three children and is currently in financial difficulty.
He said Mr Hegarty is ‘his own worst enemy’ and asked Judge Fiona Lydon to consider a Probation Report.
The court heard of Mr Hegarty’s previous convictions in relation to livestock. They include a four month suspended prison sentence in October 2016, suspended for seven years. These offences fall under that suspended sentence.
Judge Lydon adjourned the matter to January 21, 2020 for a Probation Report but expressed her concern that these offences came so soon into the seven year suspended sentence period.