Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has said that there was no interference by Fine Gael Presidential candidate Heather Humphreys in an animal cruelty case dropped five years ago.
He said that the Secretary General in his department is on the record that there was no representation in the particular case which concerned a Monaghan farmer.
It had previously been revealed that Ms Humphreys received a letter from a family member of the farmer and she passed the letter on to the Department of Agriculture.
Subsequently, the case was dropped.
Today, the Sunday Times newspaper is reporting new comments from a former Department of Agriculture official Kieran Devlin, a retired veterinary inspector.
He says he believes that it was the intervention by Heather Humphreys that prompted the collapse of the investigation.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s This Week programme, Mr Heydon said the issue was well aired five years ago with a number of parliamentary questions and a debate at the Public Accounts Committee.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
He said that the Secretary General of the department, Brendan Gleeson was “categorically on the record as saying that there was no representation in this case”.
Mr Heydon said that Ms Humphreys’ constituency office received a letter.
“It forwarded it on, there was no representation. There was no letter with it advocating for anything in it”.
The Minister for Agriculture said every animal cruelty case was different and every case is treated on its merits.
Asked about an internal inquiry into the case, Mr Heydon said he would have no issue with publishing the report subject to there being no problem with GDPR.
Ms Humphreys was also asked about the case during an interview on RTÉ Radio One’s News at One programme earlier this week.
She said the Department of Agriculture concluded that there was no political interference and she added that she abhorred animal cruelty.
Council meetings to take place
Meanwhile, tomorrow afternoon, 12 presidential hopefuls will address councillors of Kerry County Council seeking a nomination for the presidency.
Speaking on the same programme, Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council Fine Gael Councillor Michael Foley explained that each person will get five minutes to present to councillors, followed by ten minutes of question and answer time.
He said that 20 people in total made contact with the Council, however, Independent Peter Casey said he will not be available to attend.
Each had to verify they were eligible to run, had Irish citizenship and ID. Councillor Foley said that tomorrow they can outline what they stand for, their knowledge of the role and what makes them stand out. He said that there is no doubt councillors will ask plenty of questions, as some candidates never stood in an election before.
The following Monday, 15 September, councillors will make a decision whether the council will nominate someone
Councillor Foley said that he will abide by the request of Fine Gael leadership and will vote against the hopefuls who come forward to the council in order to support Heather Humphreys.
He said that it was not anti-democratic to do so, rather it is part of being involved in a political party.
Councillor Foley pointed out that Fine Gael councillors do not hold a majority in Kerry County Council and so the other 27 non Fine-Gael councillors could be convinced.