Fivemiletown cattle cull row: Minister 'plain wrong' to suggest animals were to be euthanised - MP
Stormont’s farming minister is facing a DUP call to publish the court order related to the Fivemiletown cattle cull controversy – as Jim Allister says Andrew Muir is “plain wrong” to suggest the animals were to be euthanised.
The Alliance minister is facing continued pressure from political rivals over the slaughter of 51 cattle by department of agriculture (Daera) staff in June.
He will appear in front of an emergency scrutiny committee meeting in Stormont on Monday – with a protest planned outside Parliament Buildings.
On Thursday, the Daera minister published a statement to the Assembly setting out his department’s position on the incident. He said that the department was “left with no reasonable alternative to comply with the court order, other than to euthanise the animals”.
That has been rejected by the TUV leader Jim Allister, who said he was “disappointed by the obfuscation and distraction” in Mr Muir’s statement.
Mr Allister said: “The legal position should not be misunderstood. What was granted by the court was a ‘deprivation order’, not a destruction order.
“The Deprivation Order, designed to deprive the owner of possession of animals, also includes a requirement for ‘disposal’ of the animals, but, again, that does not necessitate destruction. The department at that point had a discretion as to how to dispose of the animals, with destruction being one option, but certainly not the only one. Sale of the animals (as happened with some of them) was a live option and one which, surely, should have been taken as the self-evidently humane option.
“So, when the minister speaks of an order to euthanise the animals, he is plain wrong. There was an order to deprive the owner and dispose of the animals, but no legal compulsion to destroy”.
The North Antrim MP added: “The department had a discretion as to what method of disposal to choose. They chose violent destruction when they didn’t need to. In that they were totally wrong.”
DUP deputy leader Michelle McIlveen says the minister should publish the full court order, arguing that “further transparency is essential” if public confidence is to be restored.
The agriculture committee member said Daera’s “credibility is on the line” over the matter – and Monday’s meeting “needs to be a watershed in how the department interacts with farmers”.
Ms McIlveen said: “The Minister's written statement provides additional information, but important questions remain. In particular, there needs to be complete clarity about the legal basis upon which Daera carried out this operation.
“The minister should now publish the full court order so that there can be no ambiguity about what the court directed and what operational decisions were subsequently taken by the department.
“If the court expressly directed that the animals were to be destroyed, the public deserve to see that. Equally, if Daera sought such an order, the department should explain the evidence that was presented to the court to justify it.
“Publishing the court order would help establish the facts and ensure that the forthcoming independent review is informed by complete transparency rather than a continuing drip feed of information.
“Given the serious questions that have been raised about the veterinary aspects of this operation, I also believe there is a case for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to consider whether an independent professional investigation is warranted.
“Such a process would allow the clinical and veterinary decision-making to be examined independently of the Department and help provide confidence that the highest professional standards were applied throughout.
“I have written to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and asked for the Fivemiletown case to be investigated”.
The manner in which the animals were killed, by being shot in an open field, has been the focus of much of the criticism that has been levelled at Daera officials – but the minister said alternative arrangements were not possible in this case.
Minister Muir said this was “due to the lack of suitable, safe facilities on farm to gather up and contain animals to protect both the animals and staff; the temperament of the animals; the additional stress of handling and suitability of the animals for transport e.g. some of the cattle were horned; and the reality that it was simply not possible to transport all of the animals away from the location”.