(Pictured) Lord Logan of Lower Iveagh.

Agri-food certificates are currently being processed by just 12 vets.

Senior Ulster Unionist Lord Rogan has called for urgent action to address the shortage of veterinary surgeons carrying out official meat inspections in Northern Ireland.

Speaking to a Stormont committee last week, the Province’s Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Robert Huey stated that when the supermarket grace period in the Northern Ireland Protocol expires, the number of argi-food certificates processed locally will be close to the figure handled by the entire EU.

He told the committee that, currently, these duties are being carried out by just 12 veterinary professionals, adding that “that's not going to work.”

Lord Rogan said: “I have been concerned about this developing situation for some time and I will be tabling further Parliamentary Questions to seek to establish a clearer picture of what exactly is going on.

“The disastrous Northern Ireland Protocol has clearly made the situation much worse, but the shortage of qualified vets to undertake certification responsibilities should have been dealt with long ago and certainly well before the end of the Brexit transition period.

He continued: “The UK Government and Food Standards Agency must get a grip on this situation and do so urgently. We need more vets and they must be fully-qualified, trainees will not do.

“It is yet another instance of the UK Government taking its eye off the ball on Northern Ireland in general and Brexit in particular. I commend Dr Huey for bringing this matter to wider public attention, but it should never have come to this.”

Lord Rogan has also received an answer to a parliamentary question in which the UK Government stated that it has laid out a contingency plan in the event that the current contract to deliver official veterinary controls in Northern Ireland is not delivered.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has taken forward a recruit-to-train project and has also established a group of veterinary professionals and ex-meat inspectors in the Department who can be called upon to carry out meat inspection duties if necessary.

Image (c) UK Parliament.