Minister O’Neill said that payments should be made to NI farmers as quickly as possible due to the unique circumstances the local dairy industry is currently in. This has been caused by NI being an exporting region with particular exposure to the downturn in global dairy markets.

For this reason, as part of the EU aid package, an additional £1.1m was given to the UK by the European Commission, all of which is being passed on to NI dairy farmers.

The EU aid package, announced by the European Commission in mid-September, totals €500m across the EU, of which the UK will receive €36.1m.

Last week, Minister O’Neill announced that NI would receive £5.1m of the aid package and that it would be for dairy farmers only. Dairy farmers in NI will receive a payment of 0.23p/l on a flat rate system based on 2014/15 production.

Minister O’Neill also said that she wanted timely payments of the aid package to farmers without it causing delays to processing Basic Payments.

DEFRA has indicated that the EU aid payments to UK farmers will be made in December and paid through the Rural Payments Agency, which is based in England.

Minister O’Neill said:“Making the payments through the Rural Payments Agency will remove the need to set up a separate process for the north of Ireland with all of the associated administration.”