Minutes of Proceedings

The meeting opened at 2.00pm in Public Session

1. Apologies

As above.

2. Minutes of last meetings

The Committee agreed the Minutes of the meeting of 11 September 2007.

3. Matters Arising

(a) Correspondence Issued

The Committee noted the correspondence issued following the meeting of 11 September 2007.

(b) Correspondence Received

The Committee noted the correspondence received since the meeting of 11 September 2007.

4. FMD Update

Colette McMaster and Owen Denny, Department officials, joined the meeting at 2.04pm and gave a presentation on the current position in relation to the FMD outbreak.

Mr W Clarke joined the meeting at 2.13pm.

The officials then answered questions from the members and agreed to provide responses where the information was not immediately available.

The Committee agreed to ask the Minister to attend next week’s meeting to discuss this issue. The officials left the meeting at 2.42pm.

5. Northern Ireland Grain Trade Association (NIGTA)

Robin Irvine, Alan Ashenhurst and Garth Boyd, NITGA representatives, joined the meeting at 2.44pm and made a presentation on issues facing the industry.

Mr W Clarke left the meeting at 3.01pm.

The representatives then answered questions from the members.

The Committee agreed to:-

(a) write to the Minister to urge her to meet representatives of the NIGTA at an early date, and

(b) invite representatives of the leading supermarkets to come before the Committee to discuss pricing issues.

The representatives left the meeting at 3.45pm.

6. Ufu Rural Enterprise Policy Committee

Michael Harnett, Wesley Aston, Graham Furey and David McElrea, representatives of the UFU, joined the meeting at 3.46pm and made a presentation on producing energy from renewable sources and alternative land usage. They then answered questions from the members.

The representatives left the meeting at 4.35pm.

7. Committee Inquiry Subjects

The Committee considered a number of topics as potential inquiries and agreed to take forward an inquiry on renewable energy and alternative land uses. The Clerk was asked to bring draft Terms of Reference before the Committee.

The Committee agreed to examine the Single Farm Payment Appeal Scheme during forthcoming meetings.

8. Budget Issues

The Committee agreed to defer further discussions until it had received and considered responses from the industry’s representatives.

9. AOB

The Committee will receive a presentation from LEADER NI at next week’s meeting.

10. Next Meeting

The Committee will next meet at 2.00pm on Tuesday, 25 September 2007 in Room 144, Parliament Buildings.

The meeting closed at 16.52pm.