A Northern Irish farmer whose herd of cattle was slaughtered after a Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) outbreak has secured permission for a High Court challenge to his 16-year compensation wait. The case could set a precedent for other farmers and result in millions of pounds of compensation heading into the industry.

The farmer from County Fermanagh was granted leave to seek a judicial review over a failure to award annual interest. The case dates back to the herd which was slaughtered by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) in 2007 as part of the bTB eradicate rules.

The farmer was dissatisfied with the proposed statutory compensation payment and opted to have an independent valuer appointed. However, the agricultural department disputed the resulting valuation and exercised its right to appeal to a three-person panel. Over 16 years later the appeal is yet to be fully completed.

Court papers state that the farmer was awarded an additional £21,000 for one tranche of his animals, based on market value in 2007. But he claims that Daera has wrongly failed to pay any interest on the figure reached by the appeal panel.

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Lawyers acting for the farm believe over the 16 years since the animals were slaughtered the accrued interest means the original figure needs to be multiplied by four. They also stated that the independent valuer's compensation recommendation should have been paid out before Daera lodged an appeal.

The large herd has still to have over 200 animals valued which could see the compensation figure rise by more than £1.1m. The case has been listed for hearing in November.

Over the years there have been a number of delayed appeals which has resulted in farmers having to wait years for compensation payments. This also includes farmer appeals over Single Farm Payment claims, Environmental Farming schemes, and Tuberculosis compensation.