Cork Co-operative Marts has been fined €4,250 over animal welfare breaches at Bandon Mart following an investigation by the Department of Agriculture.
The action was taken on the back of the RTÉ Investigates programme Milking it: Dairy’s Dirty Secret, which aired on 10 July 2023.
The fines were handed down by judge Joanne Carroll at a sitting of Bandon District Court on Friday morning.
Guilty pleas were entered for three charges, while a number of other charges were withdrawn by the Department.
Two of the charges related to offences on 13 February 2023 and resulted in judge Carroll imposing a fine of €2,000 on the mart for failing to ensure that the prohibition on dragging of animals, on their premises, either by the head, ears, or their tail was not adhered to.
She imposed a further fine of €750 in relation to the inadequate design of the loading and unloading facilities on that day and noted that this had since been remedied.
Stick
The third charge related to an incident on 17 April 2023, where a member of staff struck an animal with a stick. A fine of €1,500 was imposed in relation to this and the judge noted that disciplinary action had taken place.
Coming to her decision, the judge took into account the fact that Cork Marts had no previous convictions since it was established in 1956, an early guilty plea, the fact remedial action has been taken, that errant staff had been disciplined and further training was provided to staff.
She also acknowledged that the mart offered to cover the Department's legal costs of €3,500 plus VAT at an early stage.
The mart has four months to pay the fine.
Cork Marts statement
In a statement following the ruling on Friday, Cork Co-operative Marts said that it had pleaded guilty to three summonses by the Department of Agriculture at Bandon District Court in relation to breaches of animal welfare legislation in 2023.
"The State acknowledged that Cork Co-Operative Marts Ltd were co-operative and pleaded guilty early in the investigation.
"The State confirmed it is satisfied that Cork Co-operative Marts Ltd are now complying with the requirements set out under its licence, and that all issues that arose from the investigation have been remedied.
"Cork Co-operative Marts Ltd, trading as Bandon Mart, has no previous convictions and has been trading since 1956," it said.
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