Talks between DAERA officials and farmer representatives about a new support scheme for the NI sheep sector appear to have lost momentum.

“We have been really deeply disappointed about how slow the progress has been on this,” said Kellie McEvoy from the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU).

The UFU policy officer said DAERA were “very slow” to bring forward proposals for a new scheme and she seemed unimpressed with what has been suggested so far.

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“At the minute, what we are seeing is probably not what we initially set out to look for,” she told Stormont’s agriculture committee last week.

During the meeting, McEvoy pointed out that 17% has come off entitlement values to fund beef schemes, but farmers who only keep sheep cannot recoup this lost income.

“I am sure nobody in this room would like to lose 17% of their salary,” she told MLAs.

Back in 2023, industry representatives put forward a plan for sheep support which would allow up to £8/ewe for commercial flocks and £15/ewe for pedigree breeders.

However, McEvoy said recent proposals from DAERA are “very different” to what was initially suggested by industry and this has led to “quite a lot of concern”.

“We will continue the conversations and the discussions on that and hopefully something can be achieved,” she said.

Similarly, UFU president John McLenaghan said he wanted talks with DAERA to be “reset” and “put back on a better path”.

“We don’t need to keep talking about these things. We know what is needed. We know the benefits. We just need to get on with it,” he said.