Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Halting port checks was performance stunt says SF
THE decision by the Agriculture Minister to halt the construction of port inspection facilities was a “performance stunt”, a Sinn Fein MP has said.
Chris Hazzard added that Gordon Lyons did not have the authority to stop work at the sites.
On Friday, the DUP minister stopped construction of permanent inspection facilities for postbrexit checks on agri-food goods arriving from GB.
He also halted further recruitment of inspection staff for the port facilities and said charges would not be levied at the ports on traders bringing goods from GB into Northern Ireland.
Ongoing checks, which are taking place at existing repurposed port buildings and other temporary facilities, will continue.
Mr Hazzard, Sinn Fein’s Brexit spokesman, also claimed that none of the Executive ministers were given advanced warning of the decision.
He told the BBC: “I think this was a very foolish solo run from Gordon Lyons.
“It’s a stunt that’s inevitably going to deliver nothing but prolonged instability, and uncertainty that is certain to damage confidence in our economy.
“The DUP needs to be honest with the public and stop playing games.”
THE moon looks close enough to touch in this amazing photo taken in Wakefield, West Yorks.
It also loomed large over Stonehenge in Wiltshire, behind a church in Lancashire and over a lighthouse in North Shields.
A full moon in February, when the satellite is at its closest to Earth, is known as a Snow Moon, derived from what Native American tribes called the phenomenon in snowy weather.
They also called it a Hunger Moon due to the brutal weather conditions that made it harder to find food.
The moon names were compiled by the US Farmer’s Almanac in the 1930s.