A Connacht family has claimed in a High Court application that three farmers, spraying pesticides and spreading slurry, were "causing them personal injuries".

The family also alleged that the farmers, who own separate lands adjacent to the family's property on three sides and across the main road from it, risk causing "death" by spraying pesticides and spreading slurry.

Neither the family or the farmers were identified in court documents and were referred to simply by their initials.

The Connacht family sought an "application for interlocutory injunctive relief" against the three farmers from the High Court earlier this month.

The family had accepted that the pesticides, which were the subject of the legal proceedings, were "lawfully purchased and are authorised for use".

They informed the High Court that the three farmers "have been using pesticides and other agricultural toxins which is causing them personal injuries, property damage and unemployment".

They also said that there was a “persistent presence of poisonous air and other poisonous environmental conditions causing serious and life-threatening injuries” and that their ability to use their property is adversely affected as a result of this.

Court

The family also set out in their High Court application that their neighbours were "causing harm and destruction by the reckless overuse and abuse of pesticides".

They asked for a "prohibitive permanent injunction" to prohibit the farmers from using "pesticides and other poisonous substances on their private grounds, farmyard grounds, farming ground of grassland and on the public space of the road …measuring 100 meters from our private property borders".

No evidence was brought before the court to "verify" the family's allegations that the "medical conditions" they referenced had been caused by the spread of pesticides or slurry by the three farmers.

In her judgement Justice Emily Farrell stated that "there is no evidence on which weight can be placed, to support the central thesis" that the family's health and lives had been placed at risk by the actions of the farmers.

Bord Bia

One of the farmers named in the legal proceedings, identified himself as a Bord Bia certified beef farmer, and he also set out details of inspections by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

The court also heard that he had passed all such inspections and no further steps were taken by DAFM or an Garda Síochána in relation to the family's complaints.

The other two farmers denied "overuse or malicious use of pesticides." They also detailed that their use of pesticides "is limited and controlled and they provided explanations as to how and why they use pesticides".

Judgement

In her judgement Justice Emily Farrell refused the application for interlocutory injunctive relief "on the basis of the evidence before the court".