Northern Ireland’s DUP takes Brexit protocol to court

DUP wanted courts to declare the protocol incompatible with the 1800 Act of Union and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

‘The views of unionists will not be sidelined’: Arlene Foster, Picture: Getty Images

The Democratic Union­ist Party is seeking a judicial review of a Brexit protocol agreed by London and Brussels that has disrupted trade and triggered food shortages in Northern Ireland.

The DUP said it wanted courts to declare the Northern Ireland Protocol incompatible with the 1800 Act of Union that merged the kingdoms of Britain and Ireland, and with the 1998 Good Friday Belfast Agreement, which ended three decades of political unrest in the territory.

“Fundamental to the Act of Union is unfettered trade throughout the United Kingdom,” DUP leader Arlene Foster said late on Sunday.

“At the core of the Belfast Agreement was the principle of consent, yet the Northern Ireland Protocol has driven a coach and horses through both the Act of Union and the Belfast Agreement. The views of unionists will not be sidelined nor our concerns silenced.”

The UK government and Brussels have been labouring to fix problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol since Britain formally quit all EU structures at the end of last year. While the UK left the EU’s single market and Customs union, both sides agreed in the special protocol to keep Northern Ireland inside the market, so avoiding the need for a potentially troublesome hard border with EU member Ireland.

Instead, Customs checks are required on goods entering Northern Ireland from mainland Britain, in case they end up in the EU single market via Ireland. Those checks have triggered confusion among businesses, with some UK suppliers refusing to ship goods across the Irish Sea, leading to bare shelves in Northern Irish supermarkets and customers unable to order items online.

Senior UK minister Michael Gove and EU Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, who co-chair a committee on the protocol’s implementation, vowed this month to “spare no effort” on finding solutions. They agreed to reconvene by Wednesday this week. Mr Gove has been pressing Mr Sefcovic, so far in vain, to extend a three-month grace period for Northern Irish supermarkets for most checks until 2023.

From Monday, meanwhile, EU health certifications will be required on sausages and other chilled meats entering Northern Ireland from Britain.

Fears of sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland were fuelled after the European Commission said this month it would restrict COVID-19 vaccine exports to the territory, as the bloc struggles with its own supply. Although the EU quickly backtracked, the threat intensified opposition to the new regulations, and threats against Customs officials forced the suspension of checks at two ports in Northern Ireland.

AFP