Portadown canary fancier says hobby ruined by 'soul destroying' Irish Sea border rules - and fear of having birds confiscated

David Somerville says he and other canary fanciers are too afraid of having their pets confiscated at border inspection posts to travel to the mainland to show their birds – and that decades-old friendships and social gatherings between people across the UK have been destroyed.

TUV leader Jim Allister has questioned how the EU single market is so fragile that it could be under threat from canaries.

Under the Windsor Framework, birds travelling for shows, races, exhibitions, competitions, breeding or selling must currently be brought into Northern Ireland from Great Britain via quarantine in another EU member state, such as France, before they can enter.

The blanket rules are not in response to any specific disease outbreak, but are part of wider arrangements to protect the EU single market.

Movements of four birds or less are exempt from the rules, but fanciers would travel with at least eight birds.

Mr Somerville – secretary of the Mid Ulster Border Fancy Canary Club – said he’s made deep friendships in the fraternity across the UK.

“I’ve been to their funerals, I’ve been to their weddings, I’ve even been to the baptism of some of their grandchildren.

“It’s a whole friendship circle that’s built up through keeping the birds. We’d attend a couple of shows every year across the water,” he said.

But since the Irish Sea border came into operation, that has stopped, because the members are afraid of having their birds confiscated by officials.

“We are no longer going. In a nutshell it has absolutely killed our hobby. It’s killed the best aspect of it, there’s a big social side. Looking forward to going over to England to meet the lads and all get together from all over the UK. It’s the highlight of the year for us,” he said.

He added: “It [the Windsor Framework] was sold to us that you’d get the best of both worlds. And it’s definitely not for us, it’s soul-destroying.

“We’re two years down the line here with this stuff – and we still don’t know where we are which is shocking. It is disgusting on the part of own government – including Stormont.”

No quarantine facility exists in NI so the birds are unable to be moved directly from GB into the island of Ireland.

Daera, who administer the controls, say birds must be moved via another EU member state which has quarantine facilities before onwards movement to NI is possible.

The birds could enter via quarantine in France – but can’t come into the two designated inspection points at Belfast or Larne.

That has raised concerns from owners that the animals would be confiscated.

The News Letter understands birds can either be confiscated or redirected through an EU country.

Any birds brought into NI ports can’t leave until a Portal Inspector has authorised it.

Mr Allister said there is no logical reason for these restrictions.

He added: “Some may dismiss such problems – the SDLP thought it a laughing matter when I raised a similar issue in the assembly – but the real life experience of Mr Somerville shows that these matters have a profound impact on ordinary people who are not just devoted to their hobby but have built up a lifetime of friendships on the back of it.

“These are not obscure points of constitutional law but things which cut to the heart of day-to-day life.

“Is it really a prudent use of £192 million to build border posts to prevent people like Mr Somerville pursuing his hobby?

“Should we really be employing 150 staff to partition our own country?”

A Daera spokesperson said: “Whilst unfortunately at present, there is no approved quarantine establishment within NI to enable this type of movement, the department will work alongside stakeholders to consider what solutions, if any, exist to ensure that quarantine facilities could be made available as soon as possible.”

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