. @Freight_NI tells MLAs "it's day seven of the NI Protocol" but “it’s not been plain sailing”.

“For the magnitude in the change in trading conditions, you would at least need six months” says @Freight_NI, adding that even six months would “be a push”.

Some lorries carrying food in Larne and Belfast ports have been “rerouted to the border control posts” for checks to take place, says @Freight_NI. “Thankfully there has been a lot of leniency, from @daera_ni officials and the EU as well,” he adds.

. @Freight_NI tells MLAs “There has been a failure of a lot of companies in GB to understand the requirements

Previously businesses were told that “technology can solve everything and remove friction from customs”, says @Freight_NI, adding “I think that there myth has been disproved now”. “You cannot simply wish away friction on admin when you implement customs controls anywhere."

“I suppose we very easily could’ve told you so,” says DUP MLA William Irwin in relation to the NI Protocol.
“This is going to be unworkable I believe.”

"Businesses were promised less red tape at this period in time, and nothing could be further from the truth of where we are," says @Freight_NI

“Goods are flowing from NI okay,” says @Freight_NI but he raises concerns about the return journey for hauliers. “Unfettered access to GB isn’t a problem. NI products are getting on the shelves across England, Scotland and Wales."

“I think a lot of these formalities, it’s been imposed upon @daera_ni” says @Freight_NI. If there are to be any flexibilities “it has to come through the joint committee” he adds. “A lot of businesses will work through the problems, a lot of others won’t.”

Harry Harvey of the DUP begins by praising all @daera_ni officials and “all the men on the ground for all the work they have done” to date. “If anyone has raised to it, they certainly have raised to it,” he adds.

. @MichaelAodhan tells MLA: “We had people being trained up on the 31 (December), as that’s when we got the information, and then they had to put it into practice on the 1 (January)."

“There were going to be teething problems,” he adds.

"A lot of GB suppliers, should that be in food or right across the board, haven’t engaged with the processes, or weren’t aware" of the changes coming, adds @MichaelAodhan