Farmers set for heavier penalties for environmental breaches - but UUP's Tom Elliott urges proportionate approach

Stormont’s Agriculture minister Andrew Muir said he was also going to review the sentencing framework in relation to fines and penalties for breaches of wider environmental legislation

DAERA minister Andrew Muir announced his intent to reverse a law change introduced by Edwin Poots that had capped the level of penalties.

The Alliance minister said he could not stand over the reforms of the cross compliance regime introduced by former minister Edwin Poots in 2022.

His move comes amid efforts to clamp down on pollution incidents in Northern Ireland, particularly those linked to environmental problems affecting Lough Neagh.

DAERA Minister Andrew Muir MLA. (Photo by Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye)

Mr Muir said he was also going to review, in the conjunction with the Department for Justice, the sentencing framework in relation to fines and penalties for breaches of wider environmental legislation as he vowed to crack down on law breakers.

Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Tom Elliott said the reversal of the previous cap could result in fines for farmers which are out of proportion at times.

“You could find that a farmer loses 10, 15 or 20 thousand pounds worth of subsidy for what would be a minor infringement – while a severe polluter would get away with a very small fine or no fine at all. To me, sometimes, it’s not proportionate”.

He has urged the minister to monitor the situation to ensure that farmers are not disproportionately affected. “I think the minister needs to be practical about it. There are some measures that maybe do require a more severe penalty. But there are other small measures that could attract a severe penalty but are not great risk to the environment”. Mr Elliott cited farms with a series of ear tags missing who could be fined, while that posed no risk to the environment.

Farmers must comply with a set of environmental, health and animal welfare rules in order to qualify for state agricultural subsidises.

After Brexit, the system operated in the UK is no longer set by the EU.

In 2022, Mr Poots introduced changes in Northern Ireland that limited the scale of the penalties imposed on farmers found to have committed repeated negligent breaches of the rules to 15% of their basic subsidy payment.

The then DUP minister said the regime he was introducing was “fairer and more proportionate”.

Mr Muir told his assembly scrutiny committee yesterday that he has asked his officials to reverse that law change.

“I’m aware of what Minister Poots and the decisions he took in 2022 prior to leaving office in terms of cross compliance penalties, I don’t feel I can stand over that,” he said.

“And I’ve asked officials to commence work to reverse that, because it’s important that as minister I show leadership. These are difficult issues but I’m not going to shy away from them.”

DUP committee member William Irwin expressed concern around the prospect of excessive fines for farmers, claiming minor offences could be punished with penalties that were “totally out of kilter”.