Members of Department of Agriculture's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) have been threatened with shotguns and chased down fields with slash hooks.

That is according to Assistant Secretary at the Department of Agriculture Philip Carroll who has been addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture this afternoon.

Some have also needed garda protection placed on their family home and had their telephone calls put under illegal surveillance.

Carroll has been briefing the committee on the work of Department’s newly established investigations unit, set up in September.

A number of committee members raised concerns over previous SIU investigations where there were allegations of improper practice.

In response, Carroll said there have been very few complaints about the SIU dealt with by the Department. In contrast, he said the reports in the media of improper practice by the SIU never detailed threats of violence made against SIU members.

He said it was important to highlight challenges facing members of the Department's investigations unit.

Carroll emphasised that the vast majority of farmers were compliant with their legal obligations and on average only 66 SIU cases go to prosecution every year.

No staffing changes

When asked if staffing changes had occurred within the SIU and the new investigations unit, Carroll confirmed that there had been no change in personnel.

However, he said the investigation unit was now its own division, rather than being a unit within a wider division, in the Department of Agriculture.

See this week’s Irish Farmers Journal for more on the Department's new investigations unit.