Page 18 - Declan Mcaleer News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

A5 costs spiral to £80million Over £80 million has now been spent on the delayed A5 dual-carriageway since the scheme was first developed just over a decade ago, with a total of £51 million of this going towards consultants. The figure has been described by one local Assembly member as ‘alarming’ in light of the fact that work on the major infrastructure project has been delayed again following the publication earlier this year of the latest Planning Appeals Commission report. It comes after the Department for Infrastructure instructed its staff to prepare further reports on the topics...

  A £3.5 million support package has been agreed for farmers in the Sperrins, almost four years after their land and farms were devastated in the August 2017 landslide. The landslides took place in the Glenelly and Owenkillew valleys on the night of August 22nd, the same night many parts of Donegal, and particularly Inishowen, were devastated by floods. Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots confirmed the payments this week. The announcement has been welcomed by local MLA Declan McAleer, who chairs the Stormont Agriculture Committee. He says the political impasse in Northern Ireland at the time i...

Flooded land near Plumbridge, Co Tyrone, in August 2017. An aid package worth £3.45m has been approved for farmers who were impacted by floods and landslides in the Glenelly area of Co Tyrone in August 2017. Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots made the announcement at the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) AGM on Wednesday and it was officially confirmed in a public statement on Thursday morning. “I am pleased to announce a ‘one-off’ payment of almost £3.5m in assistance to these farmers, as a contribution towards the losses experienced in 2017,” Minister Poots said. Scheme details Exact de...

The floods and landslides, which took place on August 22, 2017, during Storm Lorenzo, were described by Met Éireann as a “once in a 100-year event”. It saw livestock washed away, farmland buried under feet of silt and debris, and fences destroyed across the Glenelley and Owenkillew valleys. Around 230 farmers filled out ‘Force Majeure’ forms at clinics run in Plumbridge and Drumahoe by the department and UFU. Advertisement A scheme was up and running within five weeks in the Republic of Ireland. However, more than three years on, farmers on the Northern Ireland side of the border are...

Wednesday, April 28. Advertisement Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots and Stormont Agriculture Committee chairman Declan McAleer are understood to have been approached to speak at the 2021 event. Ballycastle beef and sheep farmer Victor Chesnutt is also set to lay out his plans for his final year at the helm of the organisation. Chestnutt took on the role at last year’s drive-in event after four years as deputy president. Changes to the organisation’s voting rules are also expected to come up in discussions. Earlier this year, the UFU confirmed it was reviewing changes to i...