Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for taking this matter himself, which I appreciate.

I raise the change in practice in respect of goods that are determined to involve health or agriculture and how they are checked. Until recently, any goods marked for Shannon Airport were checked at Shannon regardless of where they had come into the country or, in fact, where they had come into the European Union given the vast majority of those goods would have entered the European Union at Heathrow Airport and then been shipped throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from there. Obviously, as the Minister will be aware, Heathrow is a much larger airport and a very large proportion of the air freight coming into these islands came into Heathrow and was then brought on to its final destination, which in many cases was Shannon. Those goods were never checked at Heathrow, even though that was the point at which they entered the European Union, but rather at their final destination, such as Shannon. That was all considered to be in order as long as the goods had not been stripped down – that is the term used in the industry - and as long as the pallet was unopened and still wrapped. It was stripped down at Shannon Airport, whatever needed to be inspected was inspected and it then went to its final destination, presumably in the Shannon region, which was why Shannon was chosen as the destination airport in the first instance.

That changed slightly when Britain left the European Union because, obviously, the first point of entry into the European Union was no longer Heathrow. Goods were still coming from Heathrow but the first point of entry in the vast majority of cases was Rosslare Europort or Dublin Port. There is no inspection facility at Rosslare, so the goods would have been sent on to Shannon, with the pallet inspected and stripped down there. As long as the pallet had not been interfered with before it got to Shannon, that was all in order. Similarly, if a pallet came into Dublin and was marked for Shannon, that was not a problem because, ultimately, it was the industry practice and because European Union law states that the border post may be at the point of entry, which implies it is not required to be at the point of entry. The most important question is where there is an inspection point and a customs point, and that is the case for Shannon Airport and Dublin Airport but not, crucially, at Rosslare.

The practice changed suddenly such that goods coming into Dublin on a pallet marked for Shannon would be no longer inspected at Shannon but had to be first inspected in Dublin. Equally problematically, in the case of goods leaving the country from Shannon, where the pallet had been put together, inspected and sealed, went on to Dublin and left the country from Dublin, that was no longer acceptable to the Department either. As far as I can see, although I am open to contradiction, there has been absolutely no change in the legal framework.

The practice has changed but the legal framework has not. Why has the practice changed? It is causing considerable consternation among, I will be honest, a relatively small but important cohort of people. I refer to major employers who chose to invest much money and employ many people in the mid-west region because of the proximity to Shannon Airport and all that entailed. Of course, it does not just entail their staff and executives being able to fly in and out. It also means goods and having goods inspected by customs and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine at Shannon Airport.

As I mentioned, this is absolutely nothing to do with customs. This is uniquely a problem with inspections by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Could the Minister explain the basis for the change and why this is being done? Why is this being done now if there is no change in the legislation?

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