The controversial NI protocol is not perfect, and there are elements that need fixed, but it should not be scrapped, a leading figure in the NI dairy industry has said.

Giving evidence to an Irish Seanad committee on Monday, Dairy Council chief executive Dr Mike Johnson, said that the NI dairy industry was “very supportive” of the protocol as it has allowed dairy companies in NI to trade freely across the Irish border and into Britain.

“The protocol has strong support within the agri-food sector in NI, simply because we recognise that without it we would be in great trouble. Certainly, if we didn’t have the protocol dairy farmers and their local communities throughout the island of Ireland would be a lot worse off than they are at the moment,” Johnson told committee members.

Agreed as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, the protocol means that NI follows EU rules, allowing unfettered movement of goods from NI to the EU and also to Britain. However, with Britain outside the EU, goods moving from Britain to NI are treated in the same way as goods from any other third country, and subject to checks and controls.

In his evidence, Johnson acknowledged that the arrangement has brought some added costs for NI dairy businesses, particularly those selling to companies in Britain, where the resultant product could be exported back to NI or the EU. In this scenario a Support Health Attestation (SHA) document must accompany the good when leaving NI, which is currently a cost borne by local businesses.

Main concern

But his main concern is not directly linked to the protocol, but how the EU views NI milk that is processed in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). At present around one third of NI production (approaching 1bn litres per annum) goes south for processing. This product is classed as “mixed origin milk”, and while that is not an issue when it is sold in Britain or the EU, it is potentially excluded from accessing EU trade deals with third countries.

In addition, under current EU rules mixed origin milk cannot avail of market support measures such as intervention buying or private storage aid, in the event of a dairy market downturn.

Johnson revealed that he has written to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and vice president Maroš Šefcovic on the issue, calling on them to take a political decision to designate this mixed origin milk as being from the EU.

“That then starts to allow us to do the work that will be needed both on the EU free trade agreements and in terms of having access to the market support measures. It would break the logjam and allow us to get on and find the solutions. We do need that decision taken at a political level,” said Johnson.

Undermine

Also giving evidence to the Seanad committee, his ROI counterpart, Conor Mulvihill from Dairy Industry Ireland suggested that rival countries looking to sell in south east Asia have used the mixed origin issue to undermine Irish companies.

“The origin is absolutely fundamental to what you are selling. This needs to be sorted – the solutions are there, and if we get the EU moving, we can unlock a lot more on top of that,” he said.

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