Alderman Cecil Calvert has hit out at DARD over its mishandling of a farm grant, which resulted in hundreds of farmers queuing across the Province. 

The Lisburn Councillor said,
“It is an utter disgrace that farmers have had to form long queues outside DARD offices, many having to queue overnight, just to be in with a chance of receiving grant money. As a farmer myself, I resent being treated like a beggar in order to draw down grant aid which has been made available by the EU for farm modernisation purposes.”

Mr Calvert continued,
“DARD should have been aware of the huge need for on-farm investment at this time, and should have made additional resources available to have avoided this situation in the first place. It is a disgrace that only a small number of total applicants will receive grant aid under this tranche, while millions of pounds are wasted in so many other areas of Government. The competence of DARD Minister Michelle Gildernew is called into question in allowing this state of affairs to arise.”

“Furthermore, I am appalled that farmers from the Lisburn area have had to travel as far away as Ballymena or Downpatrick just to submit their application forms. This grant scheme was supposed to be about modernising local agriculture –images of farmers forced to queue on the streets to be in with a chance of receiving relatively small payments is like going back in time to the dark ages”