Half the cattle auctioned off in a forced sale on a Co Cork farm earlier this week will have to be put back on the market after the bidders for the animals failed to pay.
A prize-winning herd of more than 1,000 cows and calves belonging to Peter Kingston (51) from Craden Hill Farm at Novohal in Kinsale were brought to auction on Tuesday after ACC Loan Management obtained judgment against him for loans of almost €2.5 million.
On Friday, it emerged two bidders for almost half of the prizewinning Holstein herd failed to produce payment.
In a statement, sales agent Denis Barrett, acting on behalf of the Cork County Sheriff, said it was "with regret that approximately 500 animals that were bid upon at a pedigree herd auction, held earlier this week at a farm in Nohoval, Kinsale Co Cork, must now be resold due to a failure to receive payment.
“A significant number of animals, many of which were expected to achieve the highest prices on the day, were bid upon by two parties who have failed to comply with the terms and conditions in relation to payment.
“It is with regret, added expense and frustration that the sales agent must now proceed with an online tender process for the resale of the animals when legitimate bidders lost out on the opportunity to acquire the animals in question at the auction.”
Details of a new sale will follow and is likely to prove as controversial locally as the last.
Ahead of Tuesday’s auction, which attracted a protest, Mr Kingston told The Irish Times: “The phoenix rose from the ashes and I will too.”
He said: “People ask me how do I manage to cope with [losing the herd]. To be honest with you, I turn to the Lord and I ask him for help. “
Potential buyers arrived to his 175 acre farm in their 4x4s and were guided by security men to nearby sheds where the auction of 1,026 cattle took place.
About 30 or so protesters, many of them neighbours and supporters of Mr Kingston, lined the narrow road leading to his farm. Gardaí were also in attendance.
Those arriving to the auction were stopped and asked whether they knew the disposal of the cattle was a “forced” sale.
“This is a family farm and the Kingstons are my neighbours,” one woman said.
“I didn’t come here today to see them being forced off their farm - there are two elderly parents there and children too - this should not be happening.”
Michael Collins, Independent TD for Cork South-West, was present but refused entry to the sale. He vowed to raise the issue in the Dáil.
