DUP Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons rejects he contributed to death threat issued against Sinn Fein councillor

Minister Lyons was answering questions from MLAs for the first time since he took the decision to stop the construction of bespoke check facilities at ports in Northern Ireland.

The new checks are a direct result of the United of Kingdom leaving the European Union and are part of a legal framework, namely the Northern Ireland Protocol, agreed between the British government and the European Commission.

Mr. Lyons insisted what he did was "proportionate, reasonable and responsible".

Sinn Fein MLA for North Antrim, Philip McGuigan, asked Minister Lyons if he thought himself responsible for creating a situation that led to the PSNI informing Mid and East Antrim Sinn Fein Councillor Ian Friary that a death threat had been issued against him.

Mr Lyons condemned the threat issued against Colr. Friary but said he could not see how his actions on Friday could be linked with the death threat in any form or fashion.

Minister Lyons told MLAs in the Assembly on Monday afternoon one of the reasons why he ordered Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) officials to stop the construction of new border check facilities was because of what he described as a "lack of clarity on a range of legal issues".

The Agriculture Minister also claimed he took the unilateral decision to stop the ongoing construction of the check facilities and stopped recruiting staff to work at these facilities because he had the best interests of Northern Ireland people at heart.

Minister Lyons' actions were supported by TUV leader and Mid and East Antrim MLA, Jim Allister, but were described as "farcical and as nothing more than a stunt" by Sinn Fein, SDLP and Alliance Party MLAs.

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