Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Northern Ireland Assembly am 2:45 pm ar 17 Mehefin 2024.
I thank the Member for his question. First, I put on record my thanks to the district councils for their work in relation to this. I am grateful for that, and we have good partnership working with regard to it. The Member will be aware that the budget settlement my Department received at the beginning of the financial year is extremely demanding and stretched, particularly when my bid to continue the compensation scheme for bovine TB at 100% received nothing. The pressures on my Department are immense as a result of that. However, I want to help councils with that work, and I have made a bid for funding as part of the June monitoring. I am aware that there are ongoing judicial review proceedings on the matter, but I am seeking funding from the June monitoring for that. I want to go further than that: rather than only supporting the district councils, I want to support the charities. I am exploring with officials how, if the budget allows, to support the good work that they do.