The number of environmental health officers to be employed at Larne port after Brexit is now set to be doubled to 24, MId and East Antrim Borough Council has been told.
At a council meeting on Monday night, Larne Lough Ulster Unionist Councillor Keith Turner said: “The Protocol presented to this council in September bears no resemblance. Infrastructure is being put in when it was said there would be no infrastructure put in.”
He also pointed out that checks are now to be carried out.
He noted that the “continuous supply of medication into Northern Ireland will be one positive”.
“When we are expecting a delivery how can be ensure these can travel unrestricted.
“How are businessmen and women in Northern Ireland going to be ready in three weeks when they don’t know what the change is. We are not ready for this.
“The council has done everything it possibly can to facilitate what it is going to happen.”
Coast Road Sinn Fein Cllr James McKeown asked if the new environmental health officers will be “ready in time”.
He was told that they are undergoing training.
When asked how many will now be required, he was told that the number “would need to double” to 24.
Bannside TUV Cllr Timothy Gaston commented: “A very weird situation we are in with three weeks to go.
“I am a hardened Brexiteer but this is not Brexit.”
Braid DUP Cllr William McCaughey reiterated the need for the “free flow” of medication to be guaranteed.
“A massive amount of medication comes into this country,” he noted
Council Chief Executive Anne Donaghy said: “I fully recognise there are a number of things still to be worked out. We will react to whatever needs to be reacted to..”
Larne Lough Alliance Cllr Danny Donnelly commented: “The Brexit we are facing at the minute and negotiations have been an absolute shambles from start to finish and hardened Brexiteers in this chamber and across the Irish Sea are fully responsible for the border in the Irish Sea.”
Ms Donaghy reminded members that she had been instructed by DAERA initially to employ 12.
A report to councillors indicated that plans for a new facility to replace the current DAERA border inspection point at Redlands Road are underway.
The facility has been designed for the inspection of food and live animals and includes pens and an unloading area for horses when they arrive from other parts of the United Kingdom.
The new facility is expected to be completed within the next nine months. A temporary arrangement is being put in place.
The report went on to say that council officers are continuing to engage with the senior management team at the Port of Larne who are “preparing for the changes that need to be in place prior to January 1, 2021, with systems being tested to aid the smooth transition of movement with management reasonably content that this will be achievable”.
The 12 new environmental health officers are currently undergoing training and will be working “12 hour shifts, 24/7” from this date.
