Ulster Unionist Agriculture Spokesperson Jo-Anne Dobson has called for farmers who have suffered significant loss of livestock or damage to their buildings because of recent heavy snowfall to be fairly compensated by the Northern Ireland Executive.  

She said: “Farmers have been particularly badly hit by the snow and it is heart-breaking for them to see the animals they have reared and cared for lying dead in their fields.

“Last year was a very difficult year for our farmers and while many felt we had turned a corner, they have now been faced with a new hardship. And now there is the added pressure of knowing that these losses could affect the future viability of their farm businesses.

On a number of occasions over recent years, when Northern Ireland faced the brunt of significant rainfall levels, the Executive rightly introduced emergency financial assistance schemes administered by local District Councils. I would now urge the Department of Agriculture to introduce an equivalent scheme for farmers who are really facing one the biggest challenges in their entire farming careers. I believe this support should come in the form of an upfront payment of £1,000 in order to provide tangible support to those farms and to ensure that they have at least some money to make basic repairs or buy feedstuffs.

Whilst I am hearing worrying reports of insurers not meeting what farmers previously assumed to be obligations - claiming the snow was more an act of god than storm damage - many of the farmers that I have spoken to over recent days need support and they need it now. No doubt arguments around insurance will follow but the priority right now much remain trying to save the livestock that remain at risk.

DARD have a responsibility now to dig deep and I call on the Agriculture Minister to prioritise whatever reserves of money she has within her Department to support farmers. Whilst the Department has a poor track record at reducing red tape, and the layers of bureaucracy in her Department continue to be infamous,  now is the most obvious, but harrowing, example of why funding really should be available to get quickly to farmers in times of emergency. We need to get whatever money is sitting dormant in DARD, across all of their schemes, put directly into those rural communities which need it most - it would be a tragedy if this money were to be handed back to the centre unspent at the end of the year.

There are countless harrowing stories of people who have been caught up by the snow and I have been contacting Departments and officials since this began to make sure the help gets to where it is needed most.

I pay tribute to the many people who have been working hard to help those who are in the greatest of need. The community spirit is high and there are some wonderful examples behind the headlines of people selflessly looking out for their neighbours and those who are most vulnerable.”