The fallout continues from the presentation by the Agri-Food Strategy Board chair, Tony O’Neill, to the Stormont agriculture committee earlier this month when he highlighted the slow pace of decision-making within Government.

During that meeting, O’Neill suggested that the root of the problem is a fear within the civil service of having to go in front of the Stormont Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to justify any decisions made. It means that civil servants are preparing for a hearing before they ever implement a policy – “our greatest weakness”, said O’Neill.

What he may not have realised was that north Antrim MLA Robin Swann, who is a member of the agriculture committee, is also chair of the PAC. He immediately challenged O’Neill on his remarks, and brought the issue back to the PAC at its meeting last week. “I challenged him that I didn’t think it was fair he was blaming us for failures of the Agri-Food Strategy Board,” Swann told MLAs on the PAC.

Members of that committee agreed that they should write to Tony O’Neill asking him for evidence to back up his remarks.

Meanwhile, back at the agriculture committee, MLAs also took issue with other comments made by Tony O’Neill, in particular his assertion that NI only requires 6,000 high-volume, highly productive farmers with the rest left to look after the environment. That has prompted a press statement this week from the committee, which pointed out that it would be impossible to promote a two-tier system of environmental and production farming.

“Farmers, rural dwellers and those that work within the agriculture sector all have a role to play in protecting and enhancing our rural environment. It is crucial that they also retain the right to farm as they see fit,” said committee chair, Linda Dillon.