A High Court judge has given farmer Tom Morrin of Donore, Caragh, Naas, Co Kildare, until February to comply with an eviction order obtained by vulture fund Pentire Property Finance Ltd or go to jail.

Justice Leonie Reynolds accepted a consent order negotiated by solicitors for both parties on Tuesday.

Under the agreement, the farmer must remove all machinery and livestock from the 60ac farm and give debt collectors full access to the property by 4 February 2019.

Failing this, last week's judgement from Justice Reynolds ordering gardaí to detain him will apply.

Judgement

The judge found that Mr Morrin was in breach of a July 2017 High Court judgement ordering his eviction and cited case law showing that "that may give rise to the imprisonment of the party refusing to comply".

The 2017 judgement noted that Mr Morrin owed approximately €2m to Pentire, which bought the farmer's mortgage from Bank of Scotland in 2015.

The judgement also explained that Bank of Scotland had sold the loan to the UK branch of US-based vulture fund Carval, which then transferred it to its Irish subsidiary Pentire.

Obstructive behaviour

The court heard that Mr Morrin accepted he has continued to farm the land since the eviction judgement.

Receiver Tom Kavanagh submitted information on the "difficulties" and "obstructive behaviour" met by private security firms attempting to gain control of the farm.

The judge noted that Mr Morrin had appealed his eviction, but did not apply for a stay to suspend it.

Justice Reynolds added that the Court of Appeal had still not heard his case due to a combination of "lack of judicial resources" and "delaying tactics" on his part.

The farmer has now consented to withdraw this appeal and not to appeal last week's judgement ordering his potential detention.

The February deadline offers both parties a chance to negotiate.

"We are offering him a window of opportunity in terms of his liability," Stephen Byrne, barrister for the receiver, told the court.

"We're agreeing not to to sell the property, not to put it in the open market until 11 February," he added.

Debt mediator Larry Shields, who started working on the case this month, told the Irish Farmers Journal that he had "opened a line of communication with Pentire".

"We see this as a positive step forward. It's important that people talk and engage," he added.

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