While it is easy to sometimes be critical of the goings on at Stormont, the simple fact is that farmers would not be receiving compensation for losses incurred due to coronavirus, if a local Executive was not in place.
There is no way that £20m package would have been signed off by a direct rule minister based in Westminster. The needs of our industry are best served by local politicians directly accountable to local people.
Looking back over the three years of stalemate that came after the institutions collapsed on the back of the debacle around the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, it is hard to think of one agriculture-related issue that was significantly progressed over the period.
No minister
Unfortunately for farmers in the northwest hit by devastating floods in August 2017, this event happened at a time when there was no minister in place to sign off on a scheme.
Three years later, with farmers doing the reclamation work at their own expense, the advice from civil servants is that a compensation scheme would no longer represent value for money for the public purse.
So if money is to be paid out, Minister Poots will have to go against his own civil service advice.
With budgets under pressure and local politics still bruised from the RHI debacle, his careful consideration on the issue is understandable. But it is also quite proper for ministers to take wider considerations (beyond the black and white views of civil servants) into account when reaching decisions. In this particular incidence, given that it was an unprecedented event that caused much hardship, and that a package would have been made available in normal times, it is simply the right thing to do.
At the same time, we must all accept that bad weather happens, and we can only expect government to intervene in the most severe of cases.
Read more
Listen: pressure on Poots to deliver flood aid
COVID-19 money to land in September
While it is easy to sometimes be critical of the goings on at Stormont, the simple fact is that farmers would not be receiving compensation for losses incurred due to coronavirus, if a local Executive was not in place.
There is no way that £20m package would have been signed off by a direct rule minister based in Westminster. The needs of our industry are best served by local politicians directly accountable to local people.
Looking back over the three years of stalemate that came after the institutions collapsed on the back of the debacle around the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, it is hard to think of one agriculture-related issue that was significantly progressed over the period.
No minister
Unfortunately for farmers in the northwest hit by devastating floods in August 2017, this event happened at a time when there was no minister in place to sign off on a scheme.
Three years later, with farmers doing the reclamation work at their own expense, the advice from civil servants is that a compensation scheme would no longer represent value for money for the public purse.
So if money is to be paid out, Minister Poots will have to go against his own civil service advice.
With budgets under pressure and local politics still bruised from the RHI debacle, his careful consideration on the issue is understandable. But it is also quite proper for ministers to take wider considerations (beyond the black and white views of civil servants) into account when reaching decisions. In this particular incidence, given that it was an unprecedented event that caused much hardship, and that a package would have been made available in normal times, it is simply the right thing to do.
At the same time, we must all accept that bad weather happens, and we can only expect government to intervene in the most severe of cases.
Read more
Listen: pressure on Poots to deliver flood aid
COVID-19 money to land in September
SHARING OPTIONS