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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| NI agriculture committee to hold emergency weather meeting | NI agriculture committee to hold emergency weather meeting |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The assembly agriculture committee is to hold an emergency meeting to assess the damage caused to NI farms by the severe weather. | The assembly agriculture committee is to hold an emergency meeting to assess the damage caused to NI farms by the severe weather. |
| The committee will be briefed by the department of agriculture's permanent secretary. | The committee will be briefed by the department of agriculture's permanent secretary. |
| The Glens of Antrim and parts of County Down have been particularly badly affected by snow drifts. | |
| A RAF Chinook and three Irish Army Air Corps helicopters will help deliver food supplies to stranded animals. | |
| Thursday's meeting has been called by the vice-chair of the agriculture committee, Joe Byrne. | Thursday's meeting has been called by the vice-chair of the agriculture committee, Joe Byrne. |
| "Every day that passes, farmers are incurring more and more hardship and loss," Mr Byrne said. | "Every day that passes, farmers are incurring more and more hardship and loss," Mr Byrne said. |
| "I called this emergency meeting so we can ensure responses to this crisis are co-ordinated and communicated as widely as possible and so we can discuss what immediate measures can be put in place to support farmers, alleviate the hardship of animals without feed and assist with the removal of livestock which has been lost as a result of the bitterly cold weather. | "I called this emergency meeting so we can ensure responses to this crisis are co-ordinated and communicated as widely as possible and so we can discuss what immediate measures can be put in place to support farmers, alleviate the hardship of animals without feed and assist with the removal of livestock which has been lost as a result of the bitterly cold weather. |
| "There are still parts of the north which are completely impassable and a number of farmers remain unable to get to their livestock. | "There are still parts of the north which are completely impassable and a number of farmers remain unable to get to their livestock. |
| Concerns | |
| "We must all work together to prevent this crisis escalating further and to provide as much support as we can to help the farmers who have been dealt a hard blow by this heavy snow fall". | "We must all work together to prevent this crisis escalating further and to provide as much support as we can to help the farmers who have been dealt a hard blow by this heavy snow fall". |
| Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill said she would raise the concerns of farmers she had met on the ground over recent days. | |
| "There's a few key issues that keep coming up and one is the issue of fallen stock, so how to deal with our dead animals and that's something that's quite expensive, so that's one of the areas I'm bringing to the executive on Thursday," she said. | |
| "I believe that there is a scheme that can be put in place that can help meet the cost of that and then also secondary to that also looking at some sort of hardship payment." | |
| She also welcomed the assistance from the Irish Army's Air Corp. | |
| "Three of their helicopters are coming along and that is in addition to the Chinook that has actually been out over the past number of hours," she said. | |
| "We also will have Irish defence force personnel on the ground helping the Irish Army Air Corps helicopters, so we'll have a lot more people on the ground delivering feed to animals, which is something I'm sure farmers will very much welcome." |