West Tyrone MLA Declan McAleer is open to amending his private members bill which aims to reinstate the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme in NI.
In particular, McAleer said a clause which index links payments to inflation could be reconsidered.
At Stormont’s agriculture committee last Thursday, the Sinn Fein MLA said he accepted that no other farm scheme in NI has inflation linked payments
He said that if ANC payments were rising annually, then “over time that could start cutting in to other aspects of the department’s funding”.
McAleer indicated that a periodic review of payments could be carried out instead.
He also appeared open to the suggestion that additional environmental requirements could be used as a condition for claiming ANC support.
“That can certainly be looked at and that is something I touched on with the department,” McAleer said.
