A farmer who dumped a dozen horse and cattle carcasses off a 300ft-high Co Clare cliff and left other animals under his control to die in pain has received a suspended jail sentence.

Judge Gerald Keys stated at Ennis Circuit Court on Friday that he could see no benefit in jailing Martin Gerald Foley (66), of Lislanihan, Kilkee. The judge said Foley would no longer pose a threat to animals as he had now received a life-time prohibition from having animals in his care.

Foley pleaded guilty to disposing of waste in a manner likely to cause environmental pollution at Baltard, Doonbeg in April 2014. This related to the dumping of the carcasses of eight horses and four cattle over the cliffs.

The court heard Clare County Council had to construct a pyre to cremate the remains of the animals, which required two tonnes of coal and 90 bags of timber and took two days to burn out.

Foley has paid the council the €7,372 it cost to dispose of the animals and clean-up the site afterwards.

He had initially denied that the animals dumped off the cliff were his and State authorities had to carry out an investigation to identify the remains using DNA matching.

Judge Keys said he was imposing a separate 18-month suspended sentence for 20 sample animal neglect charges out of 193 brought against Foley “to reflect the seriousness of the offences”. These charges relate to cattle and horses found at a number of locations in west Co Clare on dates between March 2014 and April 2016 and Foley had also pleaded guilty.

Dr Lorna Meaney, Department of Agriculture veterinary inspector for the Clare-Limerick area, previously told the court that the “overall scale and severity” of the animal neglect in the case was “ unprecedented”.

Excruciating pain

The court heard horses that were unable to stand up were left to die in excruciating pain on lands under the control of Foley four years ago.

The judge also directed that 45 horses that remained on Foley’s lands on Thursday be forfeited. He was given seven days to sell the animals which will be taken by a Department of Agriculture contractor if they are not.

Judge Keys last June ordered the removal of 115 horses that were on Foley’s lands and the defendant gave an undertaking to reduce the number to zero by the end of October.

Dr Aileen Tighe, an inspector with the department, said the process had been extremely slow and that when she visited one location where Foley keeps horses she found them “in a slatted shed and getting very poor quality feed”

“There are some very thin animals in it. The sheds are filthy to say the least. There has been no fresh water and the horses have had to go to a field to try to drink water out of pools of water,” she said.

Judge Keys said the poor feed provided and bad conditions the animals were living in were aggravating factors in the case.

Pat Whyms BL, counsel for Foley, said the bad winter weather made it more difficult for his client to sell on the horses but that he “has been doing his best and has got rid of a lot of animals”. He said Foley had plans to sell 27 of the remaining horses.

Lorcan Connolly BL expressed doubt that Foley would reduce further the number of horses.

“We were told yesterday that there would be 20 horses removed by this morning. That was more pie in the sky,” he said.