Farmers want to fix Protocol, not scrap it

WHILE the DUP is holding the Stormont Executive to ransom by refusing to go into power until the Brexit Protocol is scrapped, the two largest farming organisations in the North have stated the arrangement is vital to the local industry.

While both the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) and the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland (DCNI) have both stated there are elements of the Protocol that are “not perfect” and “need to be fixed”, both bodies – which represent tens of thousands of local farmers between them – have stated it is vital farmers continue to have unrestricted access to the EU market.

Chief executives from the three main dairy companies in the North and the DCNI recently met with UFU chiefs to discuss the ongoing issues with the Protocol, which is the arrangement that was agreed between the UK and the EU that has seen the North continuing to follow EU trade and customs rules post-Brexit in order to keep free movement across our border.

Following the meeting the UFU, which is currently headed by Fermanagh man David Brown, published a statement in which it said it was “on the same page on the NI Protocol” with the DCNI.

The statement acknowledged “that the DCNI’s position on the NI Protocol has always been consistent in highlighting the importance of dairy companies having continued unfettered access to the European Union (EU) single market” to ensure “the essential movement of 800 million litres of milk across the border every year as well as supplying EU customers with a range of dairy products.”

However, it added the UFU and DCNI agreed “that it is not perfect and there are aspects of the NI Protocol that cause genuine practical difficulties for dairy farmers and need to be fixed.”

“The UFU have been involved with the DCNI chief executive, Dr Mike Johnston, in many meetings on the NI Protocol with the UK Government, the EU Commission, local political parties and others, where he has consistently raised all of these points,” said the statement.

It continued, “The UFU would emphasise that both organisations are on the same page in respect of the Protocol and are supportive of those elements which are working, while remaining committed to resolving the various problems that are affecting NI dairy farmers.

“Both UFU and DCNI welcome the three-year extension of the existing veterinary medicines derogation by the EU Commission as a very practical example of this joint effort giving much needed time to find a negotiated settlement between the EU and the UK.

“The UFU and DCNI have frequently called for a UK/EU SPS/veterinary agreement as part of an overall solution and also recognised the need for negotiated solutions to the wider practical difficulties.”

By Roisin Henderson