Minister of State for Heritage Malcolm Noonan recently visited Connemara National Park to launch the Cladoir Sheep Conservation Project, which seeks to regenerate this rare heritage breed. The Cladoir sheep were a species native to Connemara, but post-Famine they were “pushed out to the margins, literally to the water’s edge on the west coast, as [...]

The first-ever chair of animal welfare and veterinary ethics at University College Dublin’s (UCD) School of Veterinary Medicine was appointed in February 2021. Prof. Siobhan Mullan, formerly of the University of Bristol, is waiting earnestly for Covid-19 restrictions to ease before she can make the physical move to UCD. She is eager to get started, [...]

Imports of Irish sheepmeat to the UK fell by 56% in January of this year, with overall imports of fresh and frozen sheepmeat to the UK falling 9% on the same period as last year (January), according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). Exports Looking at exports first, UK exports of fresh and frozen [...]

Around a fifth of EU documentary checks on goods are now carried out in Northern Ireland, according to the DAERA permanent secretary. Speaking at the Stormont Agriculture Committee meeting on Thursday (March 4), Denis McMahon told members that Department of Agriculture staff had been “stretched to the limit”.The checks are required as part of the Northern Ireland [...]

A senior Ulster Unionist Party member has called for urgent action to address an increasingly serious shortage of vets carrying out official meat inspections in Northern Ireland. Lord Rogan was speaking after Northern Ireland’s chief veterinary officer told a Stormont committee yesterday (March 4), that when the supermarket grace period in the Northern Ireland Protocol [...]

The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has said it would back an agreement in principle that would align the UK as a whole to the EU’s agri-food standards. The radical proposal to align sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards was floated last week by North Down MP Stephen Farry and would have the aim of minimising trade friction [...]

Brexit has seen the number of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine staff posted at Irish ports and airports to deal with customs checks more than triple over the course of the last year, according to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue. This follows a question on the matter from Sinn [...]

DAERA launches ‘Major Emergency Response Plan’ as Brexit preparations hit critical stage Rachel MartinNov 23, 2020, 2:39pm  Image source: Gerry Temple Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has launched a ‘Major Emergency Response Plan’ as Brexit preparations hit a critical stage ahead of January 1, 2021. The end of the Brexit transition [...]

Sylvester PhelanOct 30, 2020, 11:04am   Grave concerns have been expressed by independent TD Verona Murphy over what she considers to be “incorrect numbers” that the government is continually communicating in relation to ferry capacity post-Brexit. In explaining the issue, deputy Murphy said: “Simon Coveney and many others have said recently that we have 22 weekly [...]

With 100 days to go until the end of the Brexit transition period and the inevitable changes to come with it, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar is urging businesses to “focus on their readiness”.From January 1, 2021, the UK will no longer be in the single market or customs union which means trade will be starkly different [...]