New data shows that there has been a 20-fold increase in the number of consignments of food and plant products and live animals being processed by health inspectors at Irish ports since Brexit.

Department of Agriculture inspectors and health officials are processing about 1,700 consignments a week compared with less than 100 a week last year under new border controls covering sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks on goods being imported from Britain.

New figures from the Department of Agriculture show that about one in every 200 of these consignments have been rejected. In more than half of these cases it is because there is inadequate, incorrect or missing paperwork.

The department said that out of 53,148 consignments processed since the start of the year, less than 1 per cent, or 262 have been rejected.

The bulk of the consignments requiring processing by the inspectors – more than 47,000 – are coming through Dublin Port, with a further 2,300 coming through Rosslare Europort.

Further reading from The Irish Times.