'Executive is needed to support farm sustainability' says Sinn Féin MLA

Declan McAleer MLA who attended the EU Sustainable Dairy Symposium in Antrim on Tuesday.

Declan McAleer was speaking after the EU Sustainable Dairy Symposium in Antrim on Tuesday, where there were informative contributions from local farmers.

The West Tyrone representative commented: “Our local farmers are already on the back foot because of Brexit, the loss of EU funding and the spiralling cost of inputs.

“Having no Executive while Civil Servants are developing a future agriculture policy and Climate Action Plans is completely unacceptable.

The EU Sustainable Dairy Symposium was held in Antrim on Tuesday

“With no functioning Assembly, it is difficult to see how targets can even be implemented given that it is a legal requirement of the Climate Change Act for targets to be agreed by the Assembly following a 16-week consultation.

“It was clear from the conference that the dairy industry is up for the sustainability challenge but they need the support of government to do this.

"The Executive must get up and running again without further delay,” he said.