Debate contribution: The draft Farm Sustainability (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025
Debate contribution by Ms Diana Armstrong on .
- MLA
- Ms Diana Armstrong
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 18 February 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- The draft Farm Sustainability (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4806807
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I rise with some hesitation to support the regulation and to make some brief remarks. Although there are positive developments in the proposed regulations, there are also issues that require further scrutiny by the AERA Committee, as Committee members outlined, to ensure that our agriculture policy reflects the future needs of the industry and, as Members have rightly stated, the viability of our family farms, which are so hard-pressed. I thank the AERA Committee, which is led by my colleague Robbie Butler MLA, and the previous Chairman, Lord Elliott, a former Member of this House, for their continued work to make the valued case for our farming community and to hold the Department to account on the matter. As Members have stated, concerns with the regulation are masked within it. More time is needed to look at those concerns, especially support for young farmers and succession planning, but, with the risk of further delay and where payments are concerned, we owe it to the farming community to provide some stability and vote the regulation through, although we must look beyond immediate solutions and prioritise the enduring stability of our family farms, ensuring that we equip farmers with the tools and opportunities to safeguard our farming heritage. As an MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, I note and welcome the fact that the minimum for eligible land remains at three hectares, not five, as initially proposed. Proposed changes such as that caused much anxiety in the farming community, especially across my constituency. Many smaller farmers would have been looking into a grim future had that proposal gone ahead, and I acknowledge the fact that the Minister listened to the Committee's recommendations on that point. I hope that Members agree that we must get this right to ensure that statutory regulations from any Department are properly scrutinised before coming to the House at such a late stage and are not rushed at the expense of the public.
325 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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