Throughout the 1990s, a sizable number of reimbursement claims came from farmers residing in South Armagh, Northern Ireland. These claims were made against the UK government, largely as a result of injuries and casualties amongst livestock which they alleged stemmed from actions by the British Army. According to records from a Stormont agriculture department official, the primary group making such demands seemed to be located within the bounds of South Armagh.
This information was passed on to Toni Carragher, the then-secretary of the South Armagh Farmers and Residents’ Committee, in the middle of 1998. She had previously requested more in-depth details about the claims. Data from the defense ministry highlighted that between the start of April 1994 and the end of March 1995, South Armagh farmers claimed almost 39,000 animal deaths or injuries, more than any other year in that decade.
Claims were also submitted in subsequent years for an additional near 12,000 animal casualties allegedly linked to the presence and operations of British soldiers and their aircraft. One notable example from this data was a claim in 1997 that implicated a single event as the cause of death for approximately 4,900 chickens. This information is preserved in a released letter held in Northern Ireland’s Public Record Office.
Compensation packages were subsequently distributed by the Area Claims Office Northern Ireland (ACONI) to farmers in the region during the 1990s. This body was responsible for addressing common law claims levelled against the defense ministry, many of which cited low-altitude military flight activity as the cause of the livestock fatalities.
Claims from South Armagh, however, overshadowed any others made during this period. Between April 1st, 1996, and July 18th, 1997, the sum of £9.5 million was distributed in recompense to South Armagh farmers. An additional near £742,000 was paid out between April 19th, 1997 and March 31st, 1998. Meanwhile, other regions of Northern Ireland, including areas such as Tyrone with considerable British military activity, received significantly less in compensation over the same periods, totalling a mere £1.87 million and £177,000.
Looking closely at the statistics, the records indicate that from April 1, 1994, to March 31, 1995, South Armagh received close to £6.2 million, whereas other regions accumulated £854,000. However, the exact dates of these supposed events are unclear in the records.
The next financial year, from April 1995 to March 1996, agricultural workers in South Armagh claimed nearly £1,363,000, whereas their colleagues in other areas submitted claims resulting in £536,000 compensation.
Financial reimbursement requests related to building and property damages (not related to livestock) totalled £183,000 and slightly over £38,000 in 1994/5 and 1995/6 respectively in South Armagh. In contrast, other regions saw receipts of close to £17,000 and more than £20,600.
Multiple claims were recorded from certain farmers. For instance, in County Armagh, 105 farmers lodged more than one claim in 2000, a figure that decreased significantly in the subsequent years; just 65 in 2001, 44 in 2002, 33 in 2003, and 20 in 2004, based on data from the Ministry of Defence.
Three individuals were charged post-1998 for submission of false claims against the Ministry of Defence, two in the year 1998 and one in 2002. These prosecutions followed the expansive police inquiry known as Operation Saddle in South Armagh.
The acquisition of this information posed some challenges because the records were not stored in a manner that ideally answered queries from Ms Carragher, an advocate for the dismantling of British army bases in South Armagh, who deceased in 2020.