Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:30 pm on 10 September 2024.
Jonathan Buckley
DUP
2:30,
10 September 2024
I thank the Minister for his answer. I want to be practical. One of the issues affecting farmers is the inflexibility surrounding a slurry season that opens on 15 October and closes on 31 January. With very unpredictable weather, to put it mildly, in Northern Ireland, that is simply not realistic for many farmers. It puts them under huge pressure to get slurry out in what are sometimes very wet conditions rather than having some flexibility and better weather predictions and conditions on the ground. Will the Minister lobby on that and look into it as a genuine way of trying to reduce run-off into waterways and Lough Neagh?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
