A man accused of multiple animal cruelty charges in Co Roscommon has been warned he could be jailed on Thursday, ahead of his trial in June.
The state wants his bail revoked, with a Department of Agriculture inspector raising new alleged animal-welfare concerns on the farm in court today.
They said 15 calves were found dead in a timber shed there just over two weeks ago.
Sean Coughlan, of Cum, Lahardane, Ballina, Co Mayo, is charged with 40 counts of animal cruelty and other alleged related offences at a dairy farm in Laragan, Elphin, Co Roscommon.
A further 38 charges relate to his company, Coughlan Farming Limited.
The Department of Agriculture alleges up to 500 calves died on the Elphin farm between 2023 and 2025.
Coughlan has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is on bail ahead of the trial.
At a sitting of Roscommon Circuit Court earlier this month, the prosecution said the DPP was seeking to revoke Coughlan’s bail because he’d failed to respond to correspondence issued in January 2026.
A decision on this was adjourned until today.
The court today heard Coughlan has now responded to the correspondence, but later than requested.
Today, Coughlan also presented several motions to Judge Kenneth Connolly.
He wanted Judge Connolly and a solicitor acting for the DPP to stop working on the case.
He also looked for an apology to be printed in several media outlets over previous reporting of the case.
These requests were all refused by Judge Connolly.
Coughlan also wanted compensation and damages for the case being taken against him, but the judge said he couldn’t consider this today.
Coughlan represented himself in court, but the judge granted his application for a McKenzie friend to be appointed to provide limited help to him.
Today, Department of Agriculture veterinary inspector James Casey said there are over 800 cattle, including over 400 cows, on Coughlan’s farm in Elphin, which he described as an ‘extremely large operation’.
He said a farm of this size would need at least four full-time staff and he said he had never witnessed adequate labour on the farm.
He also said there were discrepancies relating to 250 animals in the herd – with their Department of Agriculture herd profiles not matching submitted TB test reports.
Mr Casey said an inspection was carried out on the farm on March 9th, 2026, which raised more alleged concerns about the welfare of several animals.
He said these included the discovery of 15 dead calves in a timber shed, with none having tags.
He said one of the calves was severely scavenged.
He said calf mortality has been a serious issue on this farm.
He also said animals were being moved between Coughlan’s farms in Co Mayo and Co Roscommon without permits and compliance.
Representing himself, Coughlan said he doesn’t occupy the land in Elphin, personally, and denied he had broken his bail conditions.
He said the actions of the Department of Agriculture have severely compromised the welfare of his animals and accused them of bullying and harassment.
He alleged in court a department official took records from his farm in the past.
He said he had a detailed wage bill for the farm, which shows it has four staff.
The judge said it really perturbs him the department saw animal-welfare issues on their recent inspection.
He said this is a very serious case and he’s not going to watch animals suffer welfare issues, as is alleged.
He adjourned the case until Thursday but told Coughlan it is going to be very hard not to remand him in custody at that point.
He told him he doesn’t want him going to jail, but he could not grant him bail knowing he would continue doing what he is doing.
He said he was breaking the law regarding the movement of animals.
