Following this week’s AERA meeting in Stormont, Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart has said many serious questions remain unanswered in the aftermath of the Fivemiletown cattle cull conducted by DAERA.
She said: “Farmers and members of the public want answers, but unfortunately the extraordinary committee meeting, which saw MLA’s recalled from their summer recess, failed to fill in the blanks. In fact, conflicting reports and withheld facts are leading to further confusion and anguish within the farming community.”
Carla Lockhart MP stood alongside hundreds of farmers outside Stormont, protesting against DAERA’s handling of the court deprivation order imposed on a County Tyrone farmer in June.
Speaking to the crowd, the DUP Agriculture spokesperson said: “Farmers across Northern Ireland are united in their anger and are determined to see accountability following the barbaric shooting of 51 cattle.
“It is very obvious to the agricultural industry that there is institutional dysfunctionality within the Department. Minister Muir’s position in untenable and the message is clear, “Muir Must Go’.”
The MP added: “Farmers care deeply about their animals, and that was evident on that fateful day in County Tyrone.
“Farmers fought to save the animals from the horrific scenes that unfolded. People tried to intervene, prepared to give those cattle a future. But instead, 51 animals were shot dead where they grazed.
“Shot by DAERA – the same Department that lectures farmers about animal cruelty. What we have witnessed was department-sponsored animal cruelty.”
Carla Lockhart continued: “The presence of a court deprivation order does not excuse, or answer the questions surrounding how DAERA chose to execute it.
“Court orders must be enforced, but that does not give any Government Department a by-ball to disregard animal welfare or proportionality.
“We are told every other avenue was explored. Prove it! We are told the operation was appropriate. Prove it! We are told these animals were humanely destroyed.
“If that is the case, then Andrew Muir needs to explain to the farming community exactly what was humane about what happened in that field.”
The MP added” “The reports of cattle being chased around fields, gunshots ringing out across a rural community and an operation lasting for hours have understandably caused enormous distress and anger.
“Farmers are asking if they had carried out an operation in this manner, would DAERA accept it? In don’t think so – there would be investigations, scrutiny and severe consequences!
“There cannot be one rule for farmers and another for DAERA!”
Ms Lockhart said: “This protest is about more than one incident. The events at Fivemiletown are the straw that has broken the camel’s back. Farmers have had enough of being lectured, regulated, blamed and treated as though agriculture is the problem.
“They are facing more restrictions and bureaucracy through measures such as the Nutrients Action Programme. They see agriculture repeatedly placed in the dock over Lough Neagh, while sewage and wastewater, continues to destroy our environment.
“Farmers face barriers when trying to build, diversify and invest, and they encounter environmental and planning processes that make desperately needed infrastructure more and more difficult to deliver.”
“Again and again, rural Northern Ireland is being told: wait, restrict, regulate, pay more and do less. Farmers have had ENOUGH! stressed the MP.
She added: “Farmers are not Northern Ireland’s environmental punchbag. They deserve to be listened to, respected and treated fairly.
“We need answers over Fivemiletown. Who authorised the manner in which this operation was carried out? What alternatives were genuinely exhausted? What veterinary advice was given? Why were apparently healthy cattle, including suckling cows and animals reportedly carrying unborn calves, destroyed in this manner?
“Were all 51 animals killed immediately and humanely? And if standards were breached, who will be held accountable?”
“We do not need DAERA marking its own homework. We need facts, transparency and accountability,” demanded the MP.
“Andrew Muir is the Minister. This happened on his watch, and the buck stops with him.
Carla Lockhart concluded: “I also want to be absolutely clear, there is no place for threats or personal abuse against DAERA staff. I condemn that unequivocally. But legitimate scrutiny cannot be dismissed as abuse, and legitimate anger cannot simply be brushed aside.
“We must ensure that what happened is properly examined and that lessons are learned.
“Let the message from this farmers’ protest be loud and clear: no excuses, no double standards and no cover-up.
“Farmers deserve better. Rural Northern Ireland deserves better. And those animals deserved better.”
She added: “DAERA needs to remember what the first word in its name stands for: Agriculture!
“It is time to start listening to farmers, start working with farmers and make absolutely certain that scenes like those witnessed in Fivemiletown at the end of June are never, ever repeated.
“Farmers have had ENOUGH!”
ENDS
CLANRYE NEWS 