While the impact of budget cuts in other government departments might have made the headlines in recent weeks, DARD is facing up to its own challenges to stay within new public finance limits.

According to sources, all parts of DARD have been told that they must save money. That is nothing new for senior officials, with the Department able to find £40m worth of savings over the last four years after a UK spending review in 2011 cut budgets by 8% in real terms.

Back then, they were able to shelve some non-essential activity. However, the current budget pressures are more significant and with a lot of the slack already gone from the system, big decisions will have to be made. The most recent pressure came at the end of July when Finance Minister Simon Hamilton announced an immediate 2.1% cut across all government departments except health and education.