No NI flood relief payments will be made until a minister is in place

The BBC is reporting that a financial support scheme for farms hit by flooding cannot be sanctioned until a Stormont agriculture minister is in place.
More than 1,000 hectares of farmland flooded in the North West when record rainfall fell across the region on the night of August 22nd last.
The Norths Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs said more than 200 farms were affected, many of them in Tyrone and Derry .
However, the statement added no scheme can proceed until a farming minister is in place.