Major IT problem affecting a number of public sector services across Northern Ireland Civil Service

The systems have been down for most of the day – with some gradually coming back this afternoon.

The IT failure has affected many different sectors, for example the Court Service where prisoners could not be produced from prisons via videolink as the Sightlinke system was down.

It has also had huge implications for farmers trying to move their cattle moving to market, abattoir or farm.

The APHIS system – Northern Ireland’s computerised cattle movement and permitting system – is understand to have crashed last night as part of the wider Civil Service IT problem.

A DAERA spokeperson said: “DAERA online services have been impacted by this network issue. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Finance said: “A number of public sector services and NI Direct (the official government website for people in Northern Ireland) are experiencing technical issues due to a network issue. Work is ongoing to rectify this as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”