February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The announcement that the European Union’s Standing Veterinary Commission in Brussels has lifted the ban on Northern Ireland farm produce is a hopeful sign that the war against foot-and-mouth disease is making progress there. The EU’s decision came on Tuesday, and it means that exports of meat and other products can now resume, though the ban on live animal exports must remain because of the foot-and-mouth scare.
It is a welcome development, and not only to the beleaguered farmers of Northern Ireland. Those who are fighting to ensure the Good Friday agreement survives can point to it as an example of the benefits of having a devolved government in charge of running things at home.
Brid Rodgers, a member of the Social Democratic and Labor Party, who heads the North’s Department of Agriculture, acted decisively when the first case of foot and mouth was reported on March 1 in the Newry and Mourne region. The North’s farmers did not have to rely upon a bureaucracy of a government situated elsewhere and running its own agenda. A local administration could act swiftly and did, sensitive to the needs of its farming community. This has meant the so-far successful containment of the devastating disease to one farm in South Armagh.
Not surprisingly, the Ulster Farmers Union has welcomed the news. It is not certain how many of them would be pro- or anti-agreement. But the decisive role played by the new devolved government must surely argue strongly on behalf of those who are going into the next British election fighting on its behalf. Regardless of its difficulties and disappointments, the experiment that is going on in Northern Ireland must be allowed to continue, and its supporters on the Unionist side must confidently say so. No doubt now they will the backing of more than a few Ulster farmers.