Last Sunday, an article appeared in The Sunday Times in relation to Derek Deane. Under the headline “IFA whistleblower fined over restricted drugs”, it recounted how Deane had been “fined” between €3,000 and €4,000 for what it described as “his involvement in an enterprise that purchased restricted drugs for farmers”.

The case centred around a vet named Gary Adams, who was prosecuted last year for the supply of prescription-only medicines (POMs) for animals not under his care.

The article stated that Deane is listed as a director of a company named Balfarm, which was Adams’ “biggest customer”, having paid him €125,000 between February 2010 and July 2013.

The facts are correct, but a factually correct article can still be misleading.

For starters, the distance from Gary Adams’ practice in Carnew to Derek Deane’s home and farm in Rathvilly is about 20 miles. The home farm Deane grew up on is near Carnew, and Adams is the family vet. He is Deane’s second backup vet, and has been on farm.

Balfarm is a purchasing group of farmers, again located mostly in Carlow, well within Adams’ compass. There are 48 directors of Balfarm, so the overall bill of €125,000 averages at around €2,500 per farmer, for a period encompassing three spring periods, the busiest for farmers and vets. Hardly big figures.

Derek Deane, a top-class farmer, reckons his annual total veterinary spend to be between €12,000 and €16,000.

Deane has always maintained that all medicines were purchased in accordance with regulations relating to veterinary supervision. He fought his case to the last, with local TDs and farmers Pat Deering and Andrew Doyle speaking on his behalf, as did fellow Balfarm director John Shirley, formerly of this parish.

It was to no avail as the Department of Agriculture fine on his Single Farm Payment was upheld on appeal.

It’s interesting to see yet another article involving the old Special Investigations Unit of the Department of Agriculture pop up in The Sunday Times under John Mooney’s byline. The SIU, disbanded and rebranded in 2014, seems to have a telepathic link to Mr Mooney.