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Checks on food and agricultural goods from Britain to Northern Ireland must continue pending a hearing next month, a Belfast court has ruled.
A judge has issued an interim order suspending a unilateral decision by agriculture minister Edwin Poots to halt inspections at the region’s ports until a judicial review against the DUP minister’s decision can be heard in full.
The move came as part of a protest by the unionist party, which opposes the post-Brexit rules of the Northern Ireland Protocol, designed to avoid a hard Irish border.
Mr Poots’ order, which the Irish government described as an effective breach of international law, had not been immediately implemented as his department said officials were “considering the wider implications of fulfilling the minister’s request”.
His actions were challenged in two separate applications in the High Court in Belfast.
Granting applications for judicial reviews, Mr Justice Colton said: “There shouldn’t be any confusion hanging over those in the civil service, so I am persuaded this is a case where there should be interim relief.
“I therefore make the order to suspend the instruction given by the minister for agriculture until further order of this court.”
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Source : skynews
