The cattle were taken from a farm in the Lakelands area of Skibbereen, west Cork, two weeks ago.

At Ennis District Court, farmer Patrick Cahir said that he had made ‘mistakes’ and “a lot of things went wrong together” in 2023

A full investigation has been launched into how the cows came to be on the road.

The office of the ombudsman reviewed two incidents that took place in May this year involving putting down cattle.

The chair of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) livestock committee, Brendan Golden, has called for political pressure to be maintained to swiftly resolve the halting of beef exports to China