DAERA and the wider NI Executive has been criticised for the level of work it does in assessing how new EU laws will impact NI.

Speaking at Stormont last Thursday, Alexander Kinnear from the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) described the department’s presence in Brussels as “disappointing”.

“The government as a whole have been very slack on its uptake of working in Brussels,” he told MLAs.

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Under the Windsor Framework, certain EU rules continue to apply to NI, including in areas related to the likes of animal and plant health.

In an evidence session about proposed EU animal transport rules, Kinnear said it was “an open secret” that the NI Executive does not have enough resources in Brussels.

“We understand the difficulties around Brexit, the Windsor Framework, its rollout and the ever-changing picture, but there needs to be people there now getting a hold of this situation,” he said.

Kinnear pointed out that DAERA has not carried out an assessment of how the proposed EU animal transport rules will impact NI.

“The engagement around this issue has not been what we want,” he said.

The current draft proposals set a maximum journey time of nine hours for animals going to slaughter and require increased supervision by vets when animals are being loaded. Kate Adams from the British Agriculture Bureau said the only NI-specific assessment carried out to date suggests the proposed EU transport rules could cost the NI pig sector £4m.

“We have not looked at the poultry, sheep or bovine sectors but if there’s millions of pounds of impact for just one sector you can imagine what the cost would be to consider all of them,” she said.