Debate contribution: Areas with Natural Constraints (Payments) Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Declan McAleer on 23 March 2026.

MLA: Mr Declan McAleer
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 23 March 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Areas with Natural Constraints (Payments) Bill: Second Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5465841

Text

I thank everyone for participating in today's wide-ranging debate. In most cases, it was conducted in a robust but respectful way. I will reflect on some issues raised during the debate. I will start with Robbie Butler, who spoke on behalf of the Committee. He gave an assurance that, if the Bill proceeds today, the Committee will scrutinise it thoroughly should it reach Committee Stage. In his capacity as UUP spokesperson, he made the point that there is a Brexit funding shortfall. It is a fair point. Previously, the scheme was two thirds funded by pillar 2 of the EU's rural development programme. The Member made the point that schemes like this have continued in the South of Ireland and Scotland. We need to do our best to ensure that farmers are not at a significant competitive disadvantage, particularly in border areas. He also referred to the importance of environmental outcomes. Michelle McIlveen spoke next. She opposes the Bill. She indicated that it is poorly drafted. Obviously, we worked with legal experts in the Bill Office for some time to make sure that the Bill was legally competent. Michelle indicated that it is a vanity project. It is a project that we have been working on for years and have been trying to bring in through a motion in the Assembly. When the Alliance Party backed our motion in 2020, we were hopeful that, when it got the Ministry, it would follow through on its commitments, but it did not do so when it got the chance. That was disappointing.
Yes, of course.
Yes, but it is important to recognise that farmers in ANCs are at a serious advantage. Some of the schemes that the Minister referred to, such as the partial transition towards a flat rate, are not a full transition. Even if they were a full transition, farmers would still be at a disadvantage in those areas, because the land quality is not equal. That is an important point. We also made reference to the various schemes. Farmer after farmer has told us that, in ANCs, the suckler beef scheme does not benefit them. They find it difficult to operate, and their view is that it benefits the finisher scheme better. I do not have the stats to hand, but that is what we were picking up in the consultation. We also have to consider the sheep farmers, who have had their farm resilience payment cut by 17% in order to fund schemes that they cannot access. Those farmers are in a serious situation. The Speaker's recommendation was that Members' Bills had to be narrow and defined in order to get through in a shortened mandate. We had to come up with a narrow and defined Bill, which was about giving a legislative basis to re-enact the 2018 scheme, rather than starting a brand new scheme and negotiating rates and all of that. As the Minister knows, the regulations will follow in the new mandate. Members should also know that the regulations will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure in the House. The Minister in the next mandate will bring those forward for debate to be passed by the Assembly. I have stressed so many times that those farmers are the foundation of our red-meat industry and the custodians of our environment. They are in a most difficult situation, and we need to do what we can to support them. John Blair made the point that all farms should be equal, and I agree 100%. I have said all along that we should not pit one farm against another. I did not want the debate to pit lowland farmers against ANC farmers or to pit the environment against farming. I did not want to be divisive, because that is not how farming works. I am from a farming background, and I know that that is not how we work. When the landslides happened in the Glenelly valley, where Emma's people are from, farmers from all sections of the community worked together to pull out their cattle, operate gates and deal with the devastation. When I started off on this journey, I did not want the Bill to pit one against the other, and I am determined that it will go through on that basis.
Of course.
Yes, that is absolutely right. As I said in the Committee meeting last Monday, this is about an ecosystem, and every part of the ecosystem is connected. If something goes wrong in one part of the ecosystem, that has a knock-on effect on down. There is a problem in the ANCs, with a 21% drop in beef production and a 7% drop in ewe production from last year. That will have an impact for the lowland farmers who need that livestock for finishing and further on down the food chain. That does not even take account of the environmental impact of that.
Yes, of course.
Yes, absolutely. It is also important to point out that dairy farmers in ANCs are in a minority because of the quality of the land. Beef and sheep production are the predominant industries in those areas, but those are the sectors that are in the worst condition at the moment. When we look at the figures for last year, we see that poultry was up by 9%, pigs were up by 8% and dairy was up by 2% or 3%, whereas the figures for the two sectors that dominate the upland farms were dramatically down. I recognise what you say, but those are the two sectors that need most support. Daniel McCrossan indicated that the SDLP will support the Bill in principle. He talked about the real-world impacts, and he knows it like I know it, because we live in and represent the same constituency. He said that there is an opportunity to shape the Bill at the next stage. That is good. There are lots of questions that I do not have the answer for yet, but, at the next stage, we will have the chance to get the stakeholders before the Committee to thrash it all out and shape the Bill. Aoife talked about the importance of fairness and equality and said that farmers play a big role in supporting the environment. Áine spoke up in stout defence of Fermanagh, which, as she reminded us, is 92% ANC land. Philip, too, talked about fairness and resilience. He reiterated the point that all land is not equal, and he used County Antrim as an example of a constituency that has a lot of ANC land. Colin McGrath spoke passionately about small farm families who have been left behind: that is the point. In the DAERA census from last year, of the approximately 10,000 farms in areas with natural constraints around 8,500 are designated as "very small", which means that they are between three hectares and 10 hectares. Those are very small farms. That is the overwhelming majority that we are talking about. They are little farms, in most cases at the top of a mountain, where the farmer has to go to work every day. As Emma Sheerin said, they farm for the love of the land and to preserve the tradition. They put their own money into keeping the farm going, because, in most cases, the farm is not sustainable. They really need our support. Emma highlighted rural poverty, being from a farming family herself. Timothy Gaston said that it was important to protect all farm families and that he supports the intention of the Bill. He drew attention to the TB funding and made a really good point that I did not mention, which was that over £70 million of the Department's budget is spent on TB every year and that, if we could get to grips with that problem, the money saved would be an obvious source of funding for the ANC scheme. Gerry Carroll is already actively exploring amendments to link nature restoration to the Bill when it reaches Committee Stage. Gerry, I hope that you will get a chance to do that.
Yes.
You are definitely bouncing me here, so you are, Gerry. Yes, of course: farmers who work in ANC are the most environmentally friendly farmers of them all. They cannot have a lot of stock because of the nature of the territory. Most of the farms are in areas of natural constraint. Under the 2018 scheme, like any farmer, you had to abide by and comply with environmental standards. As I said, farmers are already doing that. In correspondence, Ulster Wildlife, the National Trust and the RSPB made the point that there is huge overlap between ANC and conservation areas. Hopefully, we will get the chance to thrash out those matters at Committee Stage, and, hopefully, Gerry, we will have a chance to see you at the Committee. Claire Sugden talked about the impact of the pressures on farm families and on the land in her constituency of East Derry. Support is important for upland landscapes. Claire helpfully reiterated the point that no policy should pit one farmer against another: I am determined not to do that. She also made the really important point that the Bill comes from the needs of farmers. It is not something that we have made up for political purposes; it is coming from the needs of farmers. We did not make it up on a whim; we have been banging on about it for years and have been getting it in the neck every time we have gone out. We did an extensive public consultation and have been out around the marts in different places, chatting to hundreds of farmers, so we know that the need is there. The Minister made the point that there are 10,000 farms in SDAs, and he talked about how the transition had started to benefit those areas. He mentioned the suckler scheme, the Farming with Nature scheme and the previous ANC scheme, which operated under ministerial direction. He also talked about the budgetary constraints. There is nothing that the Minister or any Member talked about that cannot be discussed in Committee at the next stage.
Yes, of course.
The point that I made was that the Bill is not about allocating money but about providing the legislative framework for doing so. The funding aspect would be thrashed out in regulations, which would now come forward in the next mandate. I said that my view, which you share, Minister, is that the farm sustainability pot is already overstretched, particularly given the 17% cut, so funding should not come out of that. Minister, you have more access to information on your Department's finances and budgets than I do. I used the example of the reduced requirements in the December monitoring round. There was a reduced requirement of £4·9 million as a result of vacancies; a reduced requirement of £3·1 million from PEACE PLUS; a reduced requirement of £2·9 million from Windsor framework unfilled vacancies; a slippage of £0·8 million from the Larne facilities lease; and a reduced requirement of £2·7 million from NI council boundary regulations and inspections. You may wish to provide clarification, Minister, but I also presume that your Department's resource requirement for checks will decrease, particularly if there is a UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary agreement.
Yes.
I thank the Minister for his intervention. The point that I am trying to make is that there is headroom. It is not the case that every penny is spent. There is headroom, in the sense that there were reduced requirements in the notice that the Committee got this year.
Sorry, will you repeat that, Gerry?
Yes. Thank you for that, Gerry. Another interesting thing that we have achieved tonight is a bit of unity between the DUP and the Alliance Party, which are usually at each other's throats in the Chamber. That has been interesting. To conclude, I thank Bronwyn McGahan, a Sinn Féin policy officer who has been working hard on the Bill for a long time. I thank the Bill Office team for getting us to this stage. Hopefully, the Bill will get the chance to proceed to Committee Stage. I thank all Members for a reasonably healthy debate today, and I commend the Bill to the House.

2,052 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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