The Thai chicken is packed in jumbo boxes which makes it easier to remove from a lorry. Over the piercing reverse beeps of a forklift, Ó Cuinneagáin reads out his checks and cross-checks of documents accompanying the container.
There are two types of identity check: a seal check to ensure it is intact and that information corresponds to the health certificate. This kind of check can be done away from the BIP, which is based in a cold storage facility near the Dublin Port Tunnel entrance, away from the port’s ferry terminals.
“If this establishment was delisted, it wouldn’t be on Traces so it would be an illegal import then,” says Ó Cuinneagáin. “They might be taking a lot of short trips to the UK,” says Paul Rafter, one of the veterinary inspectors BIP-ing the Thai chicken.