AGRICULTURE minister Edwin Poots has insisted that ministers "should not get involved in civil service personnel issues" but said he had "sought reassurance" from his permanent secretary after a vet was pushed out of her job for whistleblowing.
Mr Poots had come under pressure to make a statement after his department settled a whistleblower case. Dr Tamara Bronckaers was forced out of her job in 2018. She won an industrial tribunal last September, but the Department of Agriculture appealed the verdict and only agreed to settle the case two weeks ago.
Dr Bronckaers, who had worked for the department for 19 years, said she found breaches of animal welfare at livestock markets as well as failings in the way cattle movements were recorded. She said the issues could impact the traceability of meat as well as the spread of diseases including bovine TB.
The judge who heard the case said at several points that she did not believe the evidence given by two key figures - Northern Ireland's chief vet, Robert Huey, and Dr Bronckaers' line manager Julian Henderson. Mr Henderson was later promoted to deputy chief vet.
Mr Poots said yesterday that the tribunal happened before he was appointed as minister in January 2020. He said his department had completed an internal audit of issues raised by the tribunal.
"Furthermore, I have asked my permanent secretary to urgently establish a taskforce to ensure the implementation, without delay, of those recommendations, and to ensure that our traceability systems remain robust as possible and that departmental policies are being followed," he said.
"I have also asked for reassurance that the department will monitor closely implementation of the actions being taken as a result of the internal review and to take further action if necessary.
"While ministers do not and should not get involved in civil service personnel issues, as has always been the case, I have also sought reassurance from the DAERA permanent secretary that all HR processes have been, and continue to be, followed."
A decade ago, when he was health minister, Mr Poots tried to strengthen whistleblowing legislation, saying staff in the health service had a "moral duty" to raise the alarm.
