{"id":637445,"date":"2026-08-14T20:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T20:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/637445\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T20:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T20:15:18","slug":"farmers-union-calls-for-ni-minister-to-resign-amid-row-over-shooting-of-cows-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/637445\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers\u2019 union calls for NI Minister to resign amid row over shooting of cows \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A farmers\u2019 union has called on Northern Ireland\u2019s Minister for Agriculture Andrew Muir to resign amid continuing controversy over the shooting of 51 cows<\/a> in Co Tyrone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Ulster Farmers\u2019 Union (UFU) made the call following an emergency meeting that concluded members \u201cdo not have confidence\u201d in the independence of a review into the cattle cull set up by the Minister.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) said its door \u201cremains open\u201d for engagement with the union.<\/p>\n

The department\u2019s humane slaughter team carried out the cull of 51 cattle on land near Fivemiletown in June, following a court order that disqualified the herd owner from keeping animals.<\/p>\n

Concerns have been raised by some political representatives and farmers about the public nature of the incident and questions have been posed about whether all options were exhausted before the cows were shot.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of farmers protested outside Stormont on Monday as Muir answered questions about the incident at his scrutiny committee.<\/p>\n

At the meeting, Muir revealed he had received a death threat since the incident.<\/p>\n

He has insisted there was \u201cno reasonable alternative\u201d but to comply with the court order by culling the animals on the site.<\/p>\n

Muir announced this week that Martin Blake, former chief veterinary officer for Ireland, had been appointed to carry out an independent review into the cull.<\/p>\n

Last year, the UFU had passed a vote of no confidence in the department over its handling of a number of issues.<\/p>\n

Following its emergency meeting, it has extended the motion to include Muir, Daera permanent secretary Katrina Godfrey and chief veterinary officer Brian Dooher, calling for their immediate resignations.<\/p>\n

A statement said: \u201cThe decision was reached during an emergency meeting of the UFU executive, having considered the information currently available.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UFU has concluded that it does not have the confidence in the independence of the review as presently constituted, including the scope of the terms of reference and appointment of a single person to conduct it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UFU has consistently maintained that an investigation into an incident of this seriousness must be demonstrably independent, robust and capable of commanding the confidence of farm families and the wider public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Union president John McLenaghan said: \u201cThis is not a decision the UFU has taken lightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, confidence has been severely damaged and the most recent event is just one of many instances where farmers feel that the department has lost touch with farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLenaghan said: \u201cThe UFU\u2019s position is clear. We no longer have confidence that the department can deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UFU will continue to press for an independent, transparent, and public review of the Fivemiletown operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Daera spokesperson said: \u201cThe Minister and the department are aware of the decision taken by the Ulster Farmers\u2019 Union.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn external independent review is already under way to review the action taken by department officials in response to the deprivation order in Fivemiletown.\u201d \u2013 PA <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A farmers\u2019 union has called on Northern Ireland\u2019s Minister for Agriculture Andrew Muir to resign amid continuing controversy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,51349,7,8,32,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-637445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-stormont-assembly","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-tyrone","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117095702450842169","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}