Kilkenny farmer Dan Brennan was in the headlines in the mid 2000s.
I was editor of the Irish Farmers Journal at the time and Padraig Walshe, the IFA president, got in touch to tell me about this dairy farm in Kilkenny, near Castlecomer, which was having problems with very low milk yields, poor growth rates in stock and some defoliation in hedgerows.
Padraig suggested I go to Castlecomer and see what I thought.
I did and was horrified. I brought our photographer, John Caffrey, who took several pictures in February 2006.
The farm itself was clearly well run, but yearling cattle were visibly stunted and were more like calves except for their adult teeth, with heads out of proportion to their dwarf-like bodies.
How the story appeared in the Irish Farmers Journal in 2006.
At two years of age, the cattle were weighing 320kg. Milk yields were awful at about 500gal/cow and hedges were unhealthy looking, with gaps and dieback. Animal mortality was startlingly high.
There had already been a lot of investigative work undertaken by the Department of Agriculture in conjunction with the veterinary school in UCD. The regional veterinary laboratory in Kilkenny and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were also involved. But the investigations had hit several brick walls. Dan Brennan was fortunate that he had committed, knowledgeable people to ask questions and assess the evidence that was accumulating, especially two Kilkenny-based vets, Tom Slevin and Michael Lambe, as well as environmental scientist Simon White, analytical chemist JJ Leahy and specialist vet Jim Crilly.
The conclusions
The prime cause of the problem seemed to suggest some form of pollution, but the Department/UCD investigation initially came to the conclusion that the problems lay within the farm gate and various nutritional and husbandry practices were examined in detail. While tentative conclusions were reached, nothing definitive emerged.
Dan Brennan’s farm in 2021.
One possible local source of pollution was the local brick factory, Ormond Brick, owned by Cement Roadstone. It was when this was seriously examined that potential answers emerged.
The symptoms of animal sickness and plant damage were consistent with industrial pollution, but Dan Brennan’s advisers raised serious concerns on the adequacy of the emissions records.
The investigation into a possible link between the manufacturing of the bricks, the emissions from the plant chimney and the ill-health and lack of thrive so clearly visible in Dan Brennan’s cattle raised serious questions. There were instances of blood samples being mislaid and some findings with high cadmium levels being dismissed on the grounds of probable mistaken analysis, as the findings were too high to be credible.
However, the clear presence of cadmium was found in gutters and in the blood and kidney samples from Dan Brennan’s cattle.
The broad political reaction to the increasing evidence of problems not originating within the farm was extraordinary. A Committee of the European Parliament visited the farm in September 2007 and promised a full investigation and follow-up. However, the file was simply returned from Brussels.
Cement Roadstone issued a statement denying any allegations of pollution at the plant.
In any event, in December 2008, the brick factory in Castlecomer was closed permanently. In the years that followed the farm began to recover.
When I made a return visit this July, the cows and youngstock looked perfectly normal, yields for the British Friesians were back up to 1,200-1,300 gallons and the hedges looked vigorous, in full growth.
Horrific journey
It has been a horrific journey for the Brennan family. The Irish institutional response to the visible problems affecting a bona fide farming family was, by any standards, inadequate.
Many of the personalities at the centre of the investigation have changed roles or retired.
So far, no definitive answers have emerged, despite the questions and expertise of Dan Brennan’s professional and veterinary advisers.
Cadmium is one of the most toxic elements. The effects on both vegetation and the organs of animals are recognised and well known. The presence of the element was detected in the bricks and in some of the organs, as well as in the blood of Dan Brennan’s cattle, alongside the most unusual bone growth in kidneys and the livers of some cattle.
No full analysis of the amount of cadmium used in the brick manufacturing process and the quantities released through the chimney was done.
There is also evidence of some long-lasting health problems affecting Dan Brennan and his family.
What happens now?
The farm has broadly recovered. Questions remain to be answered. Opinions vary as to whether the case is now statute-barred – in other words, that legal action at this stage is too late and would not be possible. In our view, the farmer and his family have been left to carry the can.
In those difficult years, if Dan Brennan’s wife had not got an off-farm job, he would have gone broke. Some form of official, independent inquiry would seem appropriate to bring at least partial closure.
Among the questions that could be asked, even at this late stage, are:
The precise role and emission monitoring process carried out by the EPA.The official interagency report deals with main issues, but reaches conclusions that are difficult, especially at this stage, to reconcile with the initial assertions of poor farming, while the inconsistencies in the handling of important samples deserves an explanation.It would also seem appropriate for the Department of Agriculture to revisit the farm and its own attitudes to the case, given the recovery that has taken place.
Kilkenny farmer Dan Brennan was in the headlines in the mid 2000s.
I was editor of the Irish Farmers Journal at the time and Padraig Walshe, the IFA president, got in touch to tell me about this dairy farm in Kilkenny, near Castlecomer, which was having problems with very low milk yields, poor growth rates in stock and some defoliation in hedgerows.
Padraig suggested I go to Castlecomer and see what I thought.
I did and was horrified. I brought our photographer, John Caffrey, who took several pictures in February 2006.
The farm itself was clearly well run, but yearling cattle were visibly stunted and were more like calves except for their adult teeth, with heads out of proportion to their dwarf-like bodies.
How the story appeared in the Irish Farmers Journal in 2006.
At two years of age, the cattle were weighing 320kg. Milk yields were awful at about 500gal/cow and hedges were unhealthy looking, with gaps and dieback. Animal mortality was startlingly high.
There had already been a lot of investigative work undertaken by the Department of Agriculture in conjunction with the veterinary school in UCD. The regional veterinary laboratory in Kilkenny and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were also involved. But the investigations had hit several brick walls. Dan Brennan was fortunate that he had committed, knowledgeable people to ask questions and assess the evidence that was accumulating, especially two Kilkenny-based vets, Tom Slevin and Michael Lambe, as well as environmental scientist Simon White, analytical chemist JJ Leahy and specialist vet Jim Crilly.
The conclusions
The prime cause of the problem seemed to suggest some form of pollution, but the Department/UCD investigation initially came to the conclusion that the problems lay within the farm gate and various nutritional and husbandry practices were examined in detail. While tentative conclusions were reached, nothing definitive emerged.
Dan Brennan’s farm in 2021.
One possible local source of pollution was the local brick factory, Ormond Brick, owned by Cement Roadstone. It was when this was seriously examined that potential answers emerged.
The symptoms of animal sickness and plant damage were consistent with industrial pollution, but Dan Brennan’s advisers raised serious concerns on the adequacy of the emissions records.
The investigation into a possible link between the manufacturing of the bricks, the emissions from the plant chimney and the ill-health and lack of thrive so clearly visible in Dan Brennan’s cattle raised serious questions. There were instances of blood samples being mislaid and some findings with high cadmium levels being dismissed on the grounds of probable mistaken analysis, as the findings were too high to be credible.
However, the clear presence of cadmium was found in gutters and in the blood and kidney samples from Dan Brennan’s cattle.
The broad political reaction to the increasing evidence of problems not originating within the farm was extraordinary. A Committee of the European Parliament visited the farm in September 2007 and promised a full investigation and follow-up. However, the file was simply returned from Brussels.
Cement Roadstone issued a statement denying any allegations of pollution at the plant.
In any event, in December 2008, the brick factory in Castlecomer was closed permanently. In the years that followed the farm began to recover.
When I made a return visit this July, the cows and youngstock looked perfectly normal, yields for the British Friesians were back up to 1,200-1,300 gallons and the hedges looked vigorous, in full growth.
Horrific journey
It has been a horrific journey for the Brennan family. The Irish institutional response to the visible problems affecting a bona fide farming family was, by any standards, inadequate.
Many of the personalities at the centre of the investigation have changed roles or retired.
So far, no definitive answers have emerged, despite the questions and expertise of Dan Brennan’s professional and veterinary advisers.
Cadmium is one of the most toxic elements. The effects on both vegetation and the organs of animals are recognised and well known. The presence of the element was detected in the bricks and in some of the organs, as well as in the blood of Dan Brennan’s cattle, alongside the most unusual bone growth in kidneys and the livers of some cattle.
No full analysis of the amount of cadmium used in the brick manufacturing process and the quantities released through the chimney was done.
There is also evidence of some long-lasting health problems affecting Dan Brennan and his family.
What happens now?
The farm has broadly recovered. Questions remain to be answered. Opinions vary as to whether the case is now statute-barred – in other words, that legal action at this stage is too late and would not be possible. In our view, the farmer and his family have been left to carry the can.
In those difficult years, if Dan Brennan’s wife had not got an off-farm job, he would have gone broke. Some form of official, independent inquiry would seem appropriate to bring at least partial closure.
Among the questions that could be asked, even at this late stage, are:
The precise role and emission monitoring process carried out by the EPA.The official interagency report deals with main issues, but reaches conclusions that are difficult, especially at this stage, to reconcile with the initial assertions of poor farming, while the inconsistencies in the handling of important samples deserves an explanation.It would also seem appropriate for the Department of Agriculture to revisit the farm and its own attitudes to the case, given the recovery that has taken place.
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