Northern Ireland
Assembly

Tom Elliott MLA
Deputy Chair, Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development
Parliament Buildings
Stormont
Belfast
BT4 3XX

Ms Michelle Gildernew MP MLA
Minister for Agriculture and
Rural Development
Room 438
Dundonald House
Belfast
BT4 3SB

14 January 2009

Dear Minister

IMPACT OF DIOXIN CONTAMINATION ON THE NORTHERN IRELAND PIG INDUSTRY

The Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development received a presentation from the Northern Ireland Pork and Bacon Forum at it’s meeting of 13 January 2009.

The Forum apprised the Committee of the severe impact that the dioxin scare has had in respect of processors of live pigs and pig products. The Committee heard that the industry has estimated their losses to be in the range of £12 million, losses which cannot be sustained by processors and which may result in costs either being passed on to the primary producers or a major re-structuring of the pig processing sector in Northern Ireland that would result in major job losses.

Whilst the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development supports the continued efforts of the Minister and Executive colleagues to access compensation from the Republic of Ireland, the Committee would also call on the Minister to apply, through the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to the European Union in respect of a Northern Ireland Scheme similar to that in operation in the Republic of Ireland. The Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development will support this application with direct contact to DEFRA and the EU Commissioner.

The Committee will be writing to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment to ensure that priority is given to the re-establishment of markets that have been lost or greatly reduced following the dioxin scare. In addition, the Committee has agreed to write to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to ascertain the status of claims made by Northern Ireland processors under the Republic of Ireland compensation scheme and in support of the Minister and Executive colleague’s requests that Northern Ireland producers and processors are appropriately compensated for their losses.

I cannot stress the urgency with regards to this matter and I would hope that the Minister shares this, particularly in respect of securing significant compensation from the EU to save our pig industry

Yours faithfully

Tom Elliott MLA
Deputy Chair to the Committee for
Agriculture and Rural Development

Cc: Chairperson
Committee Members