A High Court judge has warned two groups of pig farmers about the potential costs of ongoing legal action between the parties.

The case is centred around a dispute between the North South Pig Company Ltd and four of its former directors: Michael McAuliffe, Jim McGrath, David Ronan and John Hanrahan.

In the commercial court in Belfast on Tuesday, barristers said that there were several issues in the case that required further consideration and asked for the start of the hearing to be rescheduled.

Mr Justice Grant agreed to put the hearing back, but urged the parties to resolve the outstanding issues to minimise legal costs.

The case is scheduled to last for two weeks and is expected to involve a significant number of witnesses.

“This has been going on for some time now and there are clearly matters that need to be dealt with. It is going to be an expensive case for all concerned,” Mr Justice Grant said.

The North South Pig Company Ltd is a co-operative made up of farmers from both sides of the Irish border.

It developed the Truly Irish pork brand and established Truly Irish Country Foods Ltd in 2009.

Company records show that the four individuals involved in the legal case resigned as directors of the North South Pig Company Ltd in September 2013.

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