“DANNY’S not for turning,” said John Cussen, the solicitor who formerly represented a county Limerick farmer involved in a dispute over land near Templeglantine, when describing the steadfast position of Daniel Doherty, the 40-year-old farmer who refuses to obey a court order to vacate a 40-acre farm holding owned by two deceased bachelor brothers.
On July 29, Daniel Doherty was sent to Limerick Prison after failing to obey a court order handed down in March, 2010, stating that he was to remove his cattle from the land and vacate the adjacent dwellings.
Failing to do so, Eamon Roche, administrator for the deceased brothers who died without leaving a will, initiated court proceedings to have the order upheld and acted upon.
Doherty was arrested under warrant and brought before Judge Carroll Moran at Limerick Circuit Court, to seek resolution.
On August 5, the farmer was asked repeatedly if he would vacate the lands and expressing that he did not wish to “go against Mattie’s wishes”, said he would not, and that he intended staying there with his 15 head of dry stock and single milking cow.
Judge Carroll Moran said he was left with no option but to hold Doherty in contempt of court and sent him to Limerick Prison until he was willing to purge his contempt.
Barrister Emmett O’Brien, sought the assistance of the court to have the cattle removed from the land but he noted that the Roche family were unwilling to do this without the assistance of the gardai, as tensions were running high between the two parties.
Last week, Doherty remained in prison and his cattle were removed, despite barricades and obstructions placed in front of the farmyard entrance.
With reports of men in balaclavas watching on as the gardai secured the farm to allow the removal of the cattle, the tale of the Rathcahill farm was to take several more twists in the days that followed.
Tracked to a farm some six miles away, the cattle were escorted by gardai off the disputed lands and the matter was thought to have been somewhat resolved.
However, just 24 hours later, solicitor for the Roche family, Michael O’Donnell, said that five cattle were back on the land, something that seemed quite mysterious to him given the six mile distance between the two farmsteads.
The prolonged dispute, dating back to 2004, took yet another twist the next day as solicitor for the Roche family, Michael O’Donnell, confirmed to the Limerick Post, that the five returned cattle were removed again.
“This will go on for some time I think, this is not the end to the matter,” he noted.
“Daniel remains in prison and he looks set to stay there for some time to come,” added the Rathkeale- based solicitor.
Daniel Doherty has always protested his rights to the land after he argued that he assisted the two bachelor brothers on the farm land.
