Pig feed producer suing radio station for defamation

The pig feed producer at the centre of the 2008 pork dioxin outbreak is suing a radio station for defamation, following a comment by one of the broadcasters.

Robert Hogg has filed a case in the High Court and claims he was defamed by Radio station Newstalk in 2008 when broadcaster George Hook said on air that the person responsible for the dioxin crisis should be punished for “treason”.

A spokesman for Newstalk said they would “vigorously” defend a defamation case. He added that Mr Hook had not named Mr Hogg in the broadcast and had only referred to him as “whoever the farmer responsible was”.

In December 2008, the Government ordered the recall of all Irish pork products after cancer-causing dioxins were found to be present in pigs that had been fed produce from Mr Hogg’s Millstream Recycling.

It was later discovered that Mr Hogg had been supplied with unsuitable oil for his dry feeding machine by Newtown Lodge.

His company was later awarded High Court judgments of €34m against Newtown Lodge and €38.7m against O’Neill Fuels, a firm in the North where the unsuitable oil had originated.

Mr Hogg’s action is against News 106, Newstalk’s holding company, and Mr Hook has not been named as co-defendant.