An Alliance MLA was warned by a council boss not to release a DUP-advised letter she had sent to the UK government raising concerns over Brexit's NI Protocol.

Mid and East Antrim chief Anne Donaghy questioned John Blair on how he had obtained the correspondence and said revealing its contents would be a "breach of confidence".

Her divisive letter to the Cabinet Office came under scrutiny during a Stormont committee probe into the temporary withdrawal of Brexit staff from Northern Ireland's ports over threat fears.

The committee's report found the move in February by the council and Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots had "limited justification".

It said police "consistently" gave verbal assurances that the risk to staff was low and that there was no information to substantiate claims of paramilitary involvement.

Ms Donaghy's letter - sent two days before the staff withdrawal decision - was sent on the advice of three DUP MPs and made claims of paramilitary activity at Larne Port.

She had shared the letter with several DUP representatives including Mr Poots, then First Minister Arlene Foster, then mayor Peter Johnston and the party's council group leader Gregg McKeen.

It was not formally disclosed to the inquiry when the council first gave evidence in April.

However, Mr Blair separately obtained a copy and asked Ms Donaghy questions about it.

Alliance Party MLA John Blair
Alliance Party MLA John Blair

Later that day, Ms Donaghy wrote to the South Antrim MLA urging him not to release its contents.

In correspondence seen by Belfast Live, she wrote: "The letter is marked confidential and information contained therein was provided to me in confidence.

"You did not have my permission to release this letter or any contents into the public domain and you should refrain from releasing any further information or the letter.

"Please confirm by return you will undertake to do so as any further release of the information is a breach of confidence.

"Furthermore, please confirm how you obtained this private and confidential letter as it was provided in confidence."

The full contents of Ms Donaghy's letter to the Cabinet Office was later revealed by Belfast Live.

The agriculture committee raised "several issues" with the letter, in which Ms Donaghy expressed concerns about post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland under the Protocol.

MLAs disagreed with Ms Donaghy's assertion that it was "not relevant" to their inquiry and said it was a "misjudgement not to have disclosed the correspondence".

They said they could "not identify a reasonable justification" for why the letter was shared with DUP elected representatives but not other parties.

"The failure to disclose the letter to political representatives in other parties could give rise to a perception of partisanship," the report said.

The council has previously insisted the correspondence was "not political in nature" and was shared with the relevant public office holders "regardless of their political party or persuasion".

It has stressed the temporary withdrawal of staff from Larne Port was a "unanimous, cross-party decision".