DARD Direct is a new one-stop-shop approach designed to improve the delivery of DARD services to farmers and farm families.
It brings together six Department of Agricult-ure and Rural Development (DARD) delivery service areas including Veterinary, Grants and Subsidies, Countryside Manage- ment, CAFRE Develop-ment Advisers, Rural Enterprise and Quality Assurance Services into single sites, strategically located throughout Northern Ireland.
In the 'Draft Final Report for the Roll-out of DARD Direct Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA)', Agriculture Min- ister, Michelle Gildernew MP MLA, named the 12 towns in which it is proposed that DARD Direct offices are located.
The Minister said: "It is heartening that so many people took time to respond during the consultation period and I thank them for sharing their viewpoints with my Department.
"This has helped us give full consideration to the issues facing both customers and staff. It has also assisted us to develop proposals to eliminate or minimise potential ad-verse equality impacts and should allow the progression of the proposals in a customer- and staff-friendly manner.
"Indeed on the back of this, I am proposing to increase the number of offices from the original proposal of 10 to 12 to address the concerns raised by farm business and staff representatives.
"This will have a major effect in reducing disruption and I am convinced this proposal provides the best basis for easy access and a better service across the north and that it will be of great benefit to our farmers and other customers.''
Ms Gildernew said she appreciated that relocation would present challenges to many existing staff and "we will work closely with all involved to meet the needs of those staff and to keep inconvenience to a minimum, when a final decision is made."
The key issues arising from the consultation were: location and accessibility of offices, for both staff and customers; quality and flexibility of service; and disruption to staff and customers. The report is scheduled for consideration by the ARD Committee at the December 2 committee meeting.
The proposed locations are Omagh, Dungannon, Armagh, Newry, Downpatrick, Newtownards, Antrim, Ballymena, Coleraine, Claudy and Magherafelt. These are in addition to the DARD Direct Office already established in Enniskillen.