Northern Ireland

Mid and East Antrim council says full post-Brexit checks at Larne port could require 72 staff at cost of £5m

Trucks leaving Larne Port. The DUP has rejected claims it is whipping up tensions over Irish Sea trade in an effort to get Brexit's contentious Northern Ireland Protocol ditched. Physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, which are required under the protocol, have been suspended amid threats and intimidation of staff. Picture date: Wednesday February 3, 2021. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Brexit. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire.
Trucks leaving Larne Port. The DUP has rejected claims it is whipping up tensions over Irish Sea trade in an effort to get Brexit's contentious Northern Ireland Protocol ditched. Physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Brita Trucks leaving Larne Port. The DUP has rejected claims it is whipping up tensions over Irish Sea trade in an effort to get Brexit's contentious Northern Ireland Protocol ditched. Physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, which are required under the protocol, have been suspended amid threats and intimidation of staff. Picture date: Wednesday February 3, 2021. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Brexit. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire.

A council has said it could cost almost £5 million to deliver post-Brexit food standards checks at Larne port.

Each shift would require 17 officers if full checks are required following the end of soft-touch grace periods.

The British government has unilaterally extended grace periods limiting bureaucracy linked to the Northern Ireland Protocol and Irish Sea border until October. They had been due to expire at the end of March.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council said based on information from the Food Standards Agency, it could be required to "provide 72 full-time staff at a cost of almost £5m to deliver on its obligations at Larne Port for 100% checks to be completed at the end of the grace period".

"Council is currently operating four shifts with three staff per shift, so the total staff complement could rise to 17 staff across four shifts - meaning 68 staff would be required."

The council has assumed at least four extra managers would also be needed.

DUP mayor Peter Johnston claimed the scale of checks would result in "incredible disruption to our supply chain, not least through massive tailbacks and delays".

"The protocol has been a disaster for Northern Ireland since January - and the figures and scale of bureaucracy we are talking about now demonstrates the urgent need for it to be abolished without further delay to safeguard the union, our businesses and our vital trade links with our fellow UK citizens in Great Britain."

Council staff were withdrawn staff from post-Brext inspection duties at Larne port last month after safety fears were raised, but were later reinstated.