Fivemiletown: DAERA Permanent Secretary Katrina Godfrey says she carries responsibility 'as accounting officer for those shortcomings and for ensuring that those weaknesses are addressed'

Addressing the AERA committee today Ms Godfrey said: “I think it's right that I begin by recognising the very genuine distress and concern associated with this case, both in relation to the circumstances that ultimately resulted in the court deprivation order, and importantly, the impact of the operation itself on people living in the local community.

“The Minister and I have agreed that the issues and concerns raised required independent external scrutiny.

"That review has now been completed. The minister has accepted its finding”.

She added that “significant difficulties arose, and the operational plan changed” and “the full implications of what happened were not escalated quickly or comprehensively enough.”

She added that “we did not give sufficient consideration to the impact this operation could and did have on the local community”.

"Our communications approach compounded this problem,” she said.

“We were too reactive,” she added.

“We should have done much more to consider appropriate engagement with people living locally to explain what the department was doing and why, and subsequently to explain promptly and accurately what had happened, including what had not gone according to plan.

"Our traditionally reactive communications model was simply not adequate for an operation of this sensitivity”.

Ms Godfrey added that she is “proud of DAERA, I'm proud of the professionalism and commitment of the people who work in the department” adding that “where our governance arrangements have fallen short, I carry responsibility as accounting officer for those shortcomings and for ensuring that those weaknesses are addressed.

"That’s why the action plan matters to me and to the minister”.

Ms Godfrey said that is the “assurance I need as accounting officer”, “the assurance that this minister, the committee, and the public are entitled to expect”.

She said that “Dr Blake has produced “a thorough piece of work, where he finds the department active within the law”, but he describes “a catalogue of failure planning without written guidance, because the department's own guidance was taken out of use in 2022 and never replaced”.

"No documented options assessment. No assessment of a phased approach. Records that cannot tell us what happened to every animal. A site declared clear and never searched.

"Three animals shot after the order to stop had been given, and nobody able to say why.

“No ability to raise the police during a live firearms operation, and a minister who was not told when anything of it went wrong.

"There are 10 recommendations that everyone has accepted, and that's welcome.

"But the recommendations are the easy part, and this committee will be measuring the department on delivery, not on documents.

"And I would also say this at the outset: the staff were in those fields carrying out a lawful duty in difficult circumstances.

"I do want to put on record that the abuse directed at individuals afterwards was indefensible.

"The committee's questions today will be directed at the department and at its senior management, which is where the responsibility sits”