Dear Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Northern Ireland),
as it been brought to my attention that derry city council closed down an open farm belonging to tommy dunn , owner of elagh tree surgery, for animal cruelty. can you please furnish me with details about what experience mr dunn has in the care of wild birds whos habitat he is habitually destroying outside the nesting season which begins on march 1st. he has been destroying hedges on creggan rd, bt48 yesterday 2nd march and today even though he has been informed he is acting illegally
can you also tell me if he disclosed that his open farm was closed for animal cruelty

Yours faithfully,

MFRANNY

Informationmanager, DARD,

Dear MFRANNY

Thank you for your request for information of 3 March 2016. Unfortunately these requests have been made in a public forum (www.whatdotheyknow.com) and either make references to a named individual that are potentially defamatory/libellous or else are electronically linked to that request. As such, bearing in mind the Data Protection implications, the Department can neither confirm nor deny whether any information is held or enter into any further correspondence on the topic through this medium.

I would advise you in your own best interests to consider taking down the posting of these questions from the site or at least to consult with your legal adviser as to whether publishing this posting would render you potentially liable for civil damages.

Should you wish to make a further Freedom of Information request in respect of the content of your two posts, I would suggest that you do so by either writing to:- The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Information Management Branch, Room 507, Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Ballymiscaw, BELFAST, BT4 3SB

or directly e-mailing us at: [DARD request email]

You have reported a potential breach of cross compliance regarding hedgerow disturbance and DARD will carry out further investigations of this matter.

Yours faithfully

Mark Maxwell
Departmental Records Officer

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