The deepening standoff over the Irish Protocol

The commission wanted to hear from stakeholders how much they understood the Irish Protocol and what it required; the stakeholders wanted to know how far they could push things at the margins. Could they even get derogations from some of the checks and controls the Protocol requires?

"The message seemed to be...that there are flexibilities within the rules, but no derogations from the rules" The meeting ended with the business delegations feeling deflated. "The message seemed to be," says one source present, "that there are flexibilities within the rules, but no derogations from the rules."On Tuesday at the Northern Ireland Assembly, the visiting House of Lords EU Committee took graphic evidence from the haulage, ports and airports sector.

Les Stracey, director of corporate affairs at Stenaline, explained that the ferry company operates 140 sailings from Belfast to Cairnryan, Heysham and Birkenhead each week. A third, and more complex concern, surrounds the data needed to comply with the checks and controls required by the Protocol. An explainer published by DExEU after the Protocol was agreed in October stated that so long as Northern Ireland participated in the EU's customs arrangements and regulatory zone there would be "processes to ensure that goods entering Northern Ireland destined for the EU pay the right duty and that all goods comply with the appropriate rules".

A DexEU report suggested that "delivery of the required infrastructure, associated systems, and staffing to implement the requirements of the [Irish] protocol by December 2020 represents a major strategic, political and operational challenge". The EU team, lead by Michel Barnier's deputy Clara Martinez Alberola, asked the UK's chief negotiator David Frost what Boris Johnson and Brandon Lewis meant when they said there would be no checks on goods going between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and that there would be "no border" down the Irish Sea.

A Downing Street source also declined to comment, but did say: "The UK signed the Protocol last month and we will comply with our obligations. Furthermore, the Joint Committee will keep things "under constant review and shall adopt appropriate recommendations with a view to avoiding controls at the ports and airports of Northern Ireland to the extent possible".

tconnellyRTE The final - and unexpected - irony: the Irish border will prove too much of an inconvenience for the 500 million people affected by the difficulties it creates for a future trade agreement and it will be made to disappear due to pressure from the outside?

tconnellyRTE No its not

tconnellyRTE The EU is a disaster and we should aim toward an orderly withdrawal.

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