Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture has warned permanent customs facilities for agri-food produce will now not be ready until at least 2023.
Speaking at the Stormont Agriculture Committee meeting on Thursday (April 15), DAERA permanent secretary Denis McMahon explained the department will now have to seek Executive approval before commencing work - a process expected to add a further year on to the build.
Just a month ago, the last time the permanent secretary addressed the committee, he told members the competition of ports infrastructure would be delayed until March 2022.
Customs facilities
Checks began on SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) goods at the ports on January 1, 2021, after the end of the UK's EU Withdrawal period. However, more checks are set to begin in 2022 - already delayed from March and July 2021.
"DAERA has temporarily reschedule planned activities in relation to the permanent facilities and ports," McMahon said.
"We've been reviewing the scale of the permanent facilities, out of the initial data from the live running of the programme, recording that we have been working to a ridiculous timescale about this.
"It's now clear that we're going to need to seek executive approval from the Northern Ireland executive before any build of permanent facilities could commence.
"Prior to this, and over the coming months, we'll need to prepare a full business case, before seeking approval from the Department of Finance and HM Treasury.
"But in order to prepare a robust business case, we'll need clarity on the demand for services, the impact on staffing and the appropriate scale and design of any permanent infrastructure to support the delivery of those services."
'Significant unknowns'
McMahon explained, however, there were some "very significant unknowns" that still needed to be resolved as well as concern the number of checks could quadruple.
"The primary concern relates to the potentially huge increase in volume [of checks] if we reach the end of the current implementation period and do not have the necessary mitigations in place.
"One of these [mitigations] is the Digital Assurance Scheme (or DAS). Defra is the agency lead on this and they've been doing some excellent work on this, but it's still in the very early stages of the design. We have some significant questions about what can be delivered and when.
"Defra's aim is to create a digitally-enabled end-to-end solution for suppliers, traders, retailers, wholesalers and hauliers to efficiently manage trade.
"Our current analysis is the number of Common Health Entry Documents will increase from approximately 2,400 checks per week or roundabout - that changes - to at least 10,000 a week. There's huge variation on uncertainty and these figures, but that's part of what we're trying to deal with.
"All of this makes it difficult, if not impossible, to complete a full business case in line with Managing Public Money Act in Northern Ireland, Department of Finance, and Her Majesty's Treasury guidance.
"Given this uncertainty in the scale of the works, we're not expecting to be in a position to put final options to the Northern Ireland executive ahead of October 1, 2021.
"While we've already completed the procurement, the current estimate is that construction will take more than a year, and we do not expect therefore permanent facilities to completed, subject to Northern Ireland Executive approval before 2023.
"In the meantime, the minister has put a paper to his Northern Ireland Executive colleagues and is continuing to seek and wait for an Executive discussion. "
Border staff recruitment
In March, it also emerged that Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots had once again halted the recruitment of border control point staff after civil servants had rebooted the process without his knowledge.
Updating, Agriculture Committee members on the matter, McMahon said: "With regard to staffing, the minister's position is that there should be no recruitment at the port for the purposes of SPS checks, and we're looking at these options in relation to this."
