Vocal Voices

All this fuss about chilled meats products and Northern Ireland.

Surely the solution is easy.

Any pack of chilled meat products from the UK destined for a supermarket shelf in Ulster has a ruddy great label slapped on the cellophane: "Not For Resale In The EU". Preferably with a Union Jack motif - end of.

No customs checks necessary for such products crossing the Irish Sea.
No customs checks necessary on the Irish Border.
Everybody happy.

If the Irish Food Ministry (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, IIUIC) finds Seamus O'Malley flogging errantly-packaged Tesco's Cumberland Sausages in his corner shop in Waterford, then they can do Seamus over and fine him a few Euros.

You're going to tell me it ain't that simple, aren't you?

Well, yes, it says much the same here.

However it also points you to the functional working of how that happens, here.

Then, of course, there are the words...

until at least 1 October 2021 (after this date, certification requirements will be introduced on a phased basis)

So, what you have in that long list of requirements to ship prohibited goods to NI, is only until they put in place "certification"....

Now, remember, NI is still in the EU, but also in the UK. We agreed that the EU rules would apply to goods entering NI. This was supposed to "protect" the GFA. In fact, it appears to have done the opposite. Well, who would have guessed?

What I think of all that I have said many times before so it doesn't bear repeating.

If you are a European why on Earth would you want to smuggle in British Bangers, it makes no sense?

They have hundreds of flavourful sausages to knock our bland offerings out of the frying pan.

Only UK expats ever buy them.

A stupid game.

Something I've never understood WM. Ex pats here going to extraordinary lengths to get their hands on Richmond sausages....

Of course it is not just sausages, that is the example, but who would want them? Considering the range of products available here those pre packaged sausages feature nowhere on the list.

Now if you are talking Bacon? Clueless. A good pork roast with the fat on for crackling? Nowhere. There is a Scottish butcher locally here, own herds. We get all that from him including steak sausages.

There are specialist shops for british goods, we use them for things like treacle and curry pastes for when we cant be bothered to make our own and also for things like mixed spice which doesn't exist here.

But, back on topic, if you live in NI and suddenly your shelves are empty of fresh cold meat products because your suppliers cant be faffed with the paperwork or they cant get certification, I can understand that it would cause a bit of tension.

How anyone on the policy side thought this would be protecting the GFA is a mystery.

One interesting point about shipping into the UK, from an ex pat shipper here, is that the UK is asking for the EU classification code when you want to ship, they then apply the same code and rules direct to the goods being shipped in. Which means that if NI keep these restrictions the flow of goods back into the UK will stop, crippling NI farmers.

Someone has to start making sensible decisions here or violence is assured.