For a year, Tamara Bronckaers tried to warn senior Stormont colleagues about animal suffering and abuse of the livestock traceability computer which could be spreading disease and facilitating fraud, but she was belittled, misrepresented, and hounded out of her job.
In her first interview, Dr Bronckaers has told the Belfast Telegraph of the way in which chief vet Robert Huey and one of his deputies, Julian Henderson, made her life “hell”. Both men remain in post unsanctioned. Two weeks ago, Dr Huey rewarded Dr Henderson with a promotion.
Dr Bronckaers blew the whistle five years ago about livestock movements between farms being electronically deleted from the main part of Stormont’s vaunted traceability system.
This was being done to artificially inflate animals’ value, but it also concealed welfare problems and facilitated the spread of TB. Animals with more than four inter-farm movements in their lives are worth far less when slaughtered, meaning that farmers, abattoirs, supermarkets and consumers were being misled.
After an exhausting and expensive fight, it can on Sunday be revealed that the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) has paid her 1.25m in compensation. A judge has endorsed her honesty, and even Daera’s internal audit admits she was right.
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