NI grant sparks furore

The Northern Ireland Assembly has been criticised for sparking a furore over a new grant scheme.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Northern Ireland advertised that it would be opening the £6m grant scheme on a first-come, first-served basis.

It added that the funding package would only allow about 1000 farmers to benefit.

That prompted a rush on the province’s government offices, which saw hundreds of farmers queuing outside in near freezing temperatures.

Some began the wait on Monday morning, fully 24 hours ahead of the offices opening their doors on 17 February.

The grants come under the EU rural development programme and are being provided to help modernise units and improve animal welfare.

DARDNI said it would allow a number of postal applications to be picked at random, but the bulk of the grants would go to people who made it to the department’s regional offices.

One queuing farmer suggested that the grants should have been provided according to a postal application scheme, which would have allowed farmers to qualify their units and seen the money distributed more fairly.