A Co Limerick dairy farmer allegedly spilled hundreds of gallons of milk into a slurry tank earlier this week in a dispute over a hedge.

Robert Hickey, of Carrigmartin, Ballyneety, said he received a note from a driver for his milk processor on Monday 2 August.

“Last collection ‘til bushes cut back," was written on the note, the farmer has said.

Hickey, aged 52, has received previous warnings that his milk collection would stop.

Since then, he has been keeping the milk in the bulk tank until it was full.

“I kept the milk in the bulk tank until this evening (Monday). I milked the cows tonight and I had no place to put the milk. I had to empty it all into the slurry tank. It is very stressful and is affecting my mental health,” Hickey commented.

The milk has been valued at approximately €1,250.

Hickey wrote to Limerick City and County Council in March to inform them of the “excessive overgrowth and encroachment of the roadside hedge along the public road leading to my property”.

“Due to the extent of this encroachment, the company to whom I supply milk and collect this milk from my farmyard, are refusing to collect same.

"I request that Limerick County Council immediately cut back and trim this roadside hedge to allow the dairy truck to be able to access my farmyard and collect the milk," Hickey added to his letter.

Responsibility

A council spokesperson has stated the cutting of hedgerow is the “responsibility of the landowner and he can carry out this activity outside of the bird nesting season annually”.

“The dates that hedge cutting can occur is between September 1 and February 28 annually – hedge cutting is prohibited between March 1 and August 31 every year," the spokesperson went on.

“The landowner is incorrect in his assumption that hedge cutting is the responsibility of the local authority and should cut his hedgerow from 1 September," they finished.

Hickey said that this “contradicts” what a council employee said in a court case where he was prosecuted.

During the hearing in 2018, the council employee said they take the view that it is responsible for the “surface and margin” of all public roads “in as far as the roadside ditch”.

Hickey's position is that the hedge "is in the charge of the council as was stated in court".

"It is my opinion that it is their responsibility," said Hickey, who added that he won’t be cutting the hedge.