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SUPERMARKETS are to get a three month ‘grace period’ from some Brexit-related checks on food and other goods sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland after 31 December, it has been confirmed.
This exemption will mean that health export certificates, which should be required on GB-to-NI agri-foods from 1 January, are not needed for “trusted” traders in NI.
Yesterday, an agreement was reached between British minister Michael Gove and European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič about how the Withdrawal Agreement could be implemented in practice.
Though the details of this deal have not been published yet, a statement by Michael Gove to the House of Commons this afternoon has given us some insight into what’s in store.
As part of that agreement “in principle”, the two sides decided on how Northern Ireland trade between Ireland and between Great Britain would work under the NI Protocol, which will come into effect from 31 December – deal or no deal.
In the House of Commons, Gove confirmed that there would be a “grace period” for supermarkets and traders “in order to make sure that they are ready for any health export certificate requirements”.
This was a major concern for politicians and retailers in Northern Ireland: last month, First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill wrote to Šefčovič to raise concerns about the SPS checks on goods arriving in Northern Ireland.
The leaders feared that post-Brexit checks on agri-foods coming from GB to NI would lead to “price increases and/or reduced choice” for customers.
The NI leaders said that representatives of the main supermarkets said there was a “real threat” to the “supply of existing food and other products” in Northern Ireland post-Brexit.
A corporate affairs manager for Asda NI said last month that the rules of trade for ‘mixed’ consignments, or trucks with a few different products in them, were complex and ”a special arrangement to avoid drowning in bureaucracy” was needed.
As the island of Ireland is viewed as one single epidemiological zone post-Brexit, SPS checks need to be carried out on animals and agriculture products travelling between the island of Ireland and Great Britain (meat and dairy, for example).
Key quotes from Michael Gove explaining this in the House of Commons
1. Chilled meats
Labour chair of the Westminster committee on the Future Relationship with the EU Hilary Benn said Gove’s announcement represents “a series of grace periods”.
Benn said: “It has been reported that food products coming from Great Britian to Northern Ireland will be exempt from export health certificates for a period of at least three months and chilled meats – sausages he referred to – will be allowed for a period of time, pending a review, after which they might be prevented any more from moving to Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
So what is going to happen after those dates, Benn asked. Michael Gove replied:
“We’ve been talking to traders, supermarkets in particular, in order to make sure that they are ready for any health export certificate requirements and we know that some supermarkets are already ready, one or two others need time in order to get ready.
They requested a grace period, originally the Commission argued that that would be impossible or if it did exist that it could only be a matter of weeks. We managed to secure three months which is sufficient time, we understand, in order to ensure that supermarkets are ready.
Michael Gove told MPs that the agreement prevents any disruption at the end of the transition period on the movement of chilled meats.
British sausages will continue to make their way to Belfast and Ballymena in the new year.
2. Free of all tariffs
Michael Gove said that businesses in Northern Ireland will be free of all tariffs.
He told MPs: “The deal safeguards Northern Ireland’s place in the UK customs territory. As recently as July, the commission had envisaged a default tariff scenario in which, and I quote, ‘all goods brought into Northern Ireland would be considered to be at risk are as such subject to the common customs tariff’.
If that had been implemented, that would have raised the prospect of a 58% tariff on a pint of milk going from Scotland to a supermarket in Strabane, or 96% on a bag of sugar going from Liverpool to the shops of Belfast.
“As we’ve repeatedly made clear, this could never have been an acceptable outcome. So, I’m pleased to say that under the agreement that we’ve reached, Northern Ireland businesses selling to consumers or using goods in Northern Ireland will be free of all tariffs.
“Whether that’s Nissan cars from Sunderland or lamb from Montgomeryshire, internal UK trade will be protected as we promised whether we have a free trade agreement with the EU or not.”
3. No ‘mini’ EU embassy in the North
Gove also stressed again that the EU will not get a ‘mini embassy’ in Northern Ireland post-Brexit – a bone of contention between the two sides during trade talks.
He told MPs: “There’ll be no Belfast mini embassy or mission, as some in the EU originally sought, and the EU officials will not have any powers to carry out checks themselves.
“There will, instead, be sensible, practical arrangements – co-operation, reciprocal data-sharing – so that both sides can have confidence in these unique arrangements.”
Gove said the package means the Northern Ireland Protocol can be implemented in a “pragmatic and proportionate way” before confirming clauses of the UK Internal Market Bill which would have enabled UK ministers to over-ride the divorce deal would be dropped.
He said: “Having put beyond doubt the primacy of the sovereignty of this place as we leave the EU, we rest safe in the knowledge that such provisions are no longer required.”
Trade talks rumble on
Gove and Šefčovič – co-chairs of the Joint-Committee that is examining how the divorce deal would be implemented – announced the breakthrough on the Protocol as trade talks reached a critical moment this week.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are to meet for dinner this evening to discuss trade negotiations.
The protocol is due to come into effect from the start of next year and is set to keep Northern Ireland in line with some EU regulations on the single market to allow an open border and free flow of goods and services across the island.
The debate over the protocol’s implementation has caused acrimony between the two sides, with the EU starting legal action over clauses in the Internal Market Bill which would have overridden parts of the Brexit agreement relating to trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
But Gove told the Commons today that “such provisions are no longer required” and that they would be removed from the Bill.
He said the accord would spare the region from damaging tariffs that could have hiked supermarket prices, and said there would be no additional red tape applied on businesses in Northern Ireland.
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Sizeable fines OR Community Work should be imposed, along with deductions from salary/dole to go towards replacement of equipment.
@Me Me: not going to happen, the law only applies to law abiding citizens. If they’ve no fear of being caught, then there is no deterrent to stop them doing what their doing.
@Electro Box: Ireland loves privatising once government bodies… they should do that with prisons.
@P. V. Aglue: it’s getting to the point that the social contract we have with those in authority is crumbling. No one trusts that dep of justice the guards or other government departments will or can do anything. Might as well employ vigilantes to go after these people
I am sorry to hear that such occurred. Ireland isn’t the Ireland that I grew up in. Give me back the 70s and 80s again. We may have had nothing, but next door had little more, if that. And I fear that this is just the start of it.
6 individuals, I bet my house on it, that the nationality comes into question. But of course, even if caught, it won’t be made public, we wouldn’t want to show up those who give out the social welfare payments to the group. And still, there isn’t enough here so open up, let’s increase the population a little bit more, for the next 5 years. Put more strain on resources, watch the Irish die due to the lack of care/support but that doesn’t matter as long as we keep Europe happy. May as well scrap the Irish constitution and slap us with the European one. I digress
@John Aherne: get outta here with that sentimental claptrap. We had a police force, courts and prisons in the 70’s and 80’s, as I recall. They weren’t standing around doing nothing waiting for crime to reach Ireland
@John Aherne: word salad and you seems to think the solution is simple. It isn’t. What a time to be alive !
@offside again: What a time to be alive – Yeah, especially if you win the AHB lottery and get a €600-800k home for nothing from our housing quangos + the state pays to rear your kids.
Not so good if you’re a regular couple that want to buy a home and do the right things – then you’re bidding against government quangos + foreign and Irish investors and end up paying over 1/2 a million for a crummy ex corpo house.
@Electro Box: the country is mismanaged, no doubt about it.
It’s run by Irish people. So work that one out …
@John Aherne: Absolutely spot on John… but sssshhhh as we’ll appear as far right racists.
@offside again: Use a logical approach to resolving it to some degree, hard work, and keep on top of the foundation that has been laid down. Nobody mentioned that it was going to be simple. But, seeing your comment along with another, simple does show face, but I would never kick simple when it thinks it’s an enthusiastic time to be alive.
@Donna Fallon: Thank you, Donna. I’ll be sure to keep sssshhhh on it. It’ll be our little secret. Many thanks for the tip.
Racist, if we were all to be cut, we bleed the same colour. I see nothing racist in that (the latter for those who deem me one)
@Ronan Mc: One day, you might even make sense. Another day, you may complete a sentence.
@John Aherne: what ?
@Ronan Mc: Yes, and Dublin is very safe, Helen McEntee said so!
@John Aherne: what are you in all that is not mighty talking about? Have you ever lived near Aungier Street? No you haven’t because I know by reading your nonsense you have not. It’s always had burglaries, it’s always had muggings, it’s always had a lot of issues with “our own” crowd even if this was carried out by non-nationals. You are so deluded if you think you know our city centre.
@John Aherne: lads come on. Only a few months ago. All these morans as u call them. Where re elected by us the irish people. And we will continue to do so. So we have made our bed as we always do. So now we must lie in the it.
@John Flanagan: Now, with that, I concur. The definition of insanity
@TheGood Feign: By your definition, Dublin is indeed a kip. I concur. And you are correct, I do not live in the kip, nor would I want to live in the kip. Your city center has been all over the news, not in a good light. I believe the best part of “your city” can be viewed in the rear view mirror of a car. Deluded I am not, I am well aware of the fact that “your city” is a kip, as to which you have confirmed, confirmation that wasn’t needed, but keyboard warriors will do what keyboard warriors do. You think, therefore, you are!
@Ronan Mc: well they were letting the Catholic Church get away with literally anything for decades so…
@Electro Box:There is no fault in anything that you mentioned. Those in government, although not my first choice, what is the alternative. SF would bring this country to its knees, in my opinion. So we are stuck at the moment with what we have. There is no point in having the Taliban coffee mornings so to bitch about what’s going on, health, housing, immigration etc etc. As for religion, it has done nothing but cause wars. The “good book”, in that, the man upstairs has killed in the millions, the guy downstairs, less than a dozen. The freakish ideas of Lotts two daughters, the toying with Abraham to sacrifice his son, and this is in the same faith. Now mix cultures, and see what you get. I am glad to be an evolutionist. Recently, I read an article here, Valentines Day stabbing. Go figure
@John Aherne: you missed the gang violence on the 70S and the crime caused by heroin addiction in the 80s. Dublin is far safer today
@JoeJoe Kilbride: Dublin is far safer now, er, um, is that the line from the previous minister for justice, as she walked aided by Garda on either side of her? Do you have such security with you, seeing that you’d be quite comfortable to venture through the streets and lanes of the city. I did not miss the violence of those decades, but if memory serves me, it was Dublin, the “goodfeign guys Dublin,” that was affected. And it spread through the country thereafter, and today, we can see how bad the country is with all that stuff and more. You can keep your city, and I’ll extend the border to the county itself, and I’ll stick to my piece of the country. I know which is on the news a lot more, and it isn’t here where I am located.
@John Aherne: There was a documentary on about Hutch the last two weeks and it featured Dublin City centre and the crime sprees these gangs went on in the 70s and 80d and everything about it, the city in particular looked grim. Not to mention the mass emigration of the time. Everyone seems to look back at everything through rose tinted glasses. That said I don’t know why the book just isn’t thrown at these people when caught.
@John Moore: Rose tinted vision, I again find myself in agreement. At the time, the West was not affected, and Dublin was in the media at the time. When it wasn’t on my doorstep, it could easily be dismissed as, ” That’s up there, not here.” But, bejaysus, did it spread throughout the country like wildfire. Within the court system, logic has no place inside those doors. The truth has no place inside those doors. It’s the best story that wins. With a judicial system like that, revolving door syndrome occurs, Gardaí at a loss as to what to do, when all of their hard work counts for nothing. Two things that haven’t improved in the last 40 years are, 1. the legal system, and the 2nd, the health system.
@TheGood Feign: I’m just listening to radio 1, American tourists in an airbandb circa Pearce Street. Some guy comes in at 12.30 am while they’re watching TV. Wearing a bala and bringing his trusty knife with him, proceeded to take said TV off the wall, he then creates a comedy of errors (he must be a Dub) trying to get out with TV under his arm. What a lovely kip to live in!
Suspect in fatal stabbing of Quham Babatunde on South Anne Street was on bail for violent incident involving knife.
@Chris: if true,I’m not a bit surprised.
@Chris: But But there’s no unvetted people coming into the country the government said, seems like alot of these asylum seekers are running for justice elsewhere, one arrested today in Belfast running back to the UK, I wonder where else he ran from, why aren’t the media naming those arrested, trying to hide shit from people again at the request of the government I suppose.
Horrible to see this happen, but are you seriously telling me that 300€ in a tip jar was left there overnight?
The Government are far too soft on people who are found guilty of theft/burglary. You read about people being convicted and it says it is their 10th conviction or whatever number you want to choose.
There is absolutely no deterrent, because they are likely to either get off for a first offence, or they get a very short sentence. And if they do get a sentence, they only serve half of it.
Then you have all these civil liberty type, do gooders that says prison does not work. You have to look at the causes of them stealing. Yes of course you do but there should be far stiffer sentences for those who commit crimes.
It is ridiculous that the guards spend so much time and resources in actually catching some offenders, and then the judge lets them off. Only for them to reoffend.
It is wokeism at its best, even though I hate using that term. Simon Harris is a perfect example of this, coming on and condemning crimes but doing absolutely nothing that will deter them.
@Joseph Fitzgibbon: We have to bring in 3 strikes laws. Mandatory sentence after three strikes should be automatic ten years. Same for 14-18 year olds
@Bingbangbong: Unfortunately you know, I know, we all know that that is not going to happen. They have rights, no responsibilities, only rights. Sad that it’s come to this.
@Bingbangbong:
Absolutely.
The toe rags will never change.
They are incapable of working for a wage,and probably have no education,or qualifications.
5 yrs in jail should be the norm for persistent crimes.
Their mugshot displayed so that people can protect their property.
The guards arrived half an hour later, no rush, lads
Past time to start deporting,we have gangs of criminal immigrants carrying knives !! Wakey Wakey Ireland ! Any sign of mehole Martin and his pet fly Harris ? Off interfering in Ukraine or gaze no doubt
@Electro Box: I lived in Dublin north inner city mid to late 80s as a student and in my first jobs. Great craic but it was always a bit dodgy. Shortest way back was by the Ilac Center, often populated by ciderheads and glue sniffers.
And into the mix throw the criminals’ friend, judge you NO… who, & we all know precisely what’s going to happen. Absolutely NOTHING meaningful. What an expensive waste.
Two burglaries in their current premises and they moved from Denmark Sweet because of raids there. Just awful
Whats so wrong with lengthy sentences and building a new super prison as planned 25 years ago? Are we in denial about crime and punishment by trying to help the poor offenders? Time for action.
Time to follow DIRTY HARRY approach to these detritus as custodial sentences appear to be not working
If the Gardai don’t get off their arses soon someone will be killed, either innocent citizens or some of the feral youths roaming around!
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