Hardship funding bid declined – Gildernew

Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew MP, MLA has confirmed that her bid for funding of £1.1million in June monitoring round, has not been prioritised for support by the Executive.

The Minister had previously secured Executive agreement to bid for hardship funding for farmers who suffered loss of crops and sheep, as a consequence of this year’s severe weather.

Expressing her disappointment, the Minister said: “While I felt obliged to raise these hardship issues with the Executive by submitting a bid in the June monitoring round, hardship payments such as these could not, unfortunately, be the highest priority. DARD is facing many millions of pounds of unfunded inescapable statutory and contractual pressures and resources are currently under severe pressure across the board.”

In conclusion the Minister added: “In the current economic climate, DARD, along with other Government Departments will continue to face significant financial constraints. In these circumstances, future consideration of hardship payments is unlikely to qualify for priority consideration. Accordingly I would stress that farmers must consider and mitigate risk, by taking appropriate precautions and possibly by the provision of insurance.

“To this end, my Department will continue to offer advice around best farming practice and I have asked my officials to hold discussions with the farming and insurance industries to see if there are any ways of making insurance more accessible to farmers as this is the direction we, collectively, want to see the industry follow.”

Notes to editors:

1. The Executive agreed June monitoring round budget allocations at its meeting on 24 June.
2. Funding for hardship funding of £1.1million was not deemed a priority and was therefore not approved.
3. All media enquiries to DARD Press Office, tel 02890 9052 4619. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.