FFA Write to Agriculture Committee and Agriculture Minister on AFBI
Farmers For Action wrote to the NI Agriculture Committee and NI Minister for Agriculture earlier this week in the light of revelations by GB News on Saturday 28th February at 7.30am.
The matter was in connection with AFBI and a FFA spokesperson said that “this did not come as a shock to Farmers For Action as we have information going back a number of years that AFBI has become a cold house to work in for many good employees, who complain of no commonsense of direction and more on a daily basis.
“In addition, FFA are privy to a case put to AFBI in connection with a possible cure for early bovine TB, which met with a nil response, verifying the above!”
FFA want to see AFBI back at the top of its game showing the world new things in agriculture as it used to do and plotting the way forward in the face of accelerated climate change, disease and much more, however, this will obviously not happen with the current top civil servants in charge.
Sean McAuley, FFA representative, said: “FFA are calling on the Agriculture Committee in the teeth of elections next year to prove their worth by requesting Minister Muir to remove the CEO and Board at AFBI, along with the Permanent Secretary of DAERA – this will also put Minister Muir to the test of his position.
“Minister Muir is the man in charge, he has the power to remove these people from their positions and replace them with suitable candidates who must have Northern Ireland’s best interests at heart!
“The FFA know that the Minister can commission an independent review or appoint external investigators to compile a compliance report.
“The three other options on th etable are that the matter could be raised with the courts through judicial review or write to the Public Services Ombudsman and make a complaint of mal-administration in public office.
“And the third option is to report this to the PSNI which is probably the quickest, least expensive and most effective route for consideration, both in time and cost to the public purse.
“We expect a reply from the Agriculture Committee and Minister Muir within 14 days as to which route they intend to take.”
