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The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in NI has settled a long-running case brought by the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) on behalf of its former president Ian Marshall.
Due to have been heard in Belfast High Court today (Friday 28 September), the case was settled outside of court.
It was a second judicial review of a decision taken by DAERA to impose intentional cross-compliance penalties related to a water pollution incident on the Marshall farm dating back to late 2011.
By deciding it was an intentional breach of the rules, a 55% penalty on Marshall’s single farm payment was applied, as opposed to a negligent breach which would have attracted a penalty of 1% to 5%.
Marshall appealed through the normal DAERA process, and at a second-stage hearing (initiated in 2013) an independent panel recommended in favour of Marshall that the breach be changed from intentional to negligent.
Despite that, DAERA decided not to take the advice of the independent panel and continued to apply the intentional penalty.
A court case ensued, backed by the UFU. In February 2017, a High Court judge ruled that the original DAERA decision-making process was “unlawful”.
DAERA was told to review the case, and after doing that decided that its original decision was correct. As a result, the UFU sought a second judicial review.
That second review has now been shelved at the last minute, with DAERA finally accepting the view of the independent panel. Marshall will now receive the money taken from his single farm payment in 2012 and 2013 for an intentional penalty. Instead, a negligent penalty will be retrospectively applied. Once some interest is added in, it is understood Marshall will receive £42,400.
That still leaves outstanding UFU legal costs. In total, the case has cost the organisation approximately £140,000 in legal fees. After the first judicial review, the UFU was awarded costs. The department agreed to pay around £70,000, but disputed the other costs, arguing that it was out of line with fees locally. The crux of this issue is the decision of the union to employ top English barrister Hugh Mercer QC to the case.
It is understood that discussions are ongoing between the UFU and DAERA, and that an offer has been made.
When approached by the Irish Farmers Journal, Marshall indicated that as part of the settlement with DAERA he was not allowed to comment on the case.
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