The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) says the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) have made the right decision by granting the final decision in future reviews of area-based scheme payments that have been heard by an independent panel, to the DAERA Minister Edwin Poots. Announced by DAERA earlier in the week, it is a temporary measure until legislation is put in place that gives decision making powers to the independent panel.
UFU president Victor Chestnutt said, “This is a positive step that has been taken by the DAERA Minister in the interim period. The UFU policy position has always been that the second stage of the independent panel decision should be final.”
In 2018, the UFU undertook legal proceedings against DAERA to retain the second stage independent panel decision. This was settled outside of court, but the decisions continued not to be binding.
As part of negotiations, the UFU asked for the independent panels’ decisions to be final, however the response by DAERA was that for this to occur it would require a legislation change. At this time, a Stormont Executive was not in place therefore this could not happen.
“The UFU continue to lobby to ensure that the recent commitment made by the DAERA Minister that he would not overturn the decisions taken by the second stage independent appeals panel, is delivered through legislation before the end of the year as subsequently outlined publicly by the senior DAERA officials involved in the appeals process. The treatment of historic cases should be considered as part of the development of this legislation for a revised process,” said Mr Chestnutt.
