Covid inquiry says division led to 'marred decision making' by Northern Ireland Executive

Political division and disputes led to "chaotic and marred decision making" by the Northern Ireland Executive during the Covid-19 pandemic, a public inquiry has concluded.

Baroness Heather Hallett’s report on the governmental responses to Covid - published on Thursday - found that the political response to the public health emergency was "deeply divided along political lines" leading to an "incoherent approach."The report also criticised First Minister Michelle O'Neill's attendance at the funeral of leading Republican Bobby Storey as well as the then First Minister Arlene Foster's "inappropriate use" of cross-community votes to make political points.

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Political leaders were involved in significant decisions including how lockdowns were introduced, the closure of businesses and schools, and restrictions on public gatherings.The report concluded that the response in Northern Ireland, like the rest of the UK, was “a repeated case of too little, too late”.It said “the devolved administrations were too reliant on the UK government to lead the response”.It further stated that in Northern Ireland, as in Scotland, Covid-19 was only discussed under “any other business” in meetings in late February 2020.The report said: “It should have been equally apparent to the First Ministers and deputy First Ministers of the devolved administrations that, by this point, Covid-19 was the most pressing issue facing their governments.”Examining the response to the second Covid wave in autumn 2020, the report said: “In Northern Ireland, politically divided Executive Committee meetings led to chaotic decision-making.“A four-week circuit breaker was introduced on 16 October 2020, despite advice that a six-week intervention was needed.”The report said the circuit breaker “ultimately proved inadequate”.It added: “In the weeks that followed, Executive Committee meetings were deeply divided along political lines and beset by leaks, leading to an incoherent approach in which the circuit breaker restrictions were extended for one week, then lapsed for one week, before being reintroduced for two further weeks – with the one-week lapse in restrictions correlating with a 25% increase in cases.”When examining decision-making, the report said: “Coordination of the Northern Ireland Executive’s response was weakened by the operational independence of departments and decision-making was marred by political disputes.”

Some members of bereaved families from Northern Ireland were in London for the publication of the findings.

Brenda Doherty said: "My mummy died on 24 March 2020 and the Chair has made it clear that had the lockdown been a week earlier, people like my mummy would have been saved.

"Somewhere along the line in the future, there will be a further pandemic and there will be no excuses it's in black and white.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the publication of the report was an “important milestone”.

Ms O'Neill was deputy First Minister during the pandemic.She said: “Covid was an unprecedented global emergency and this report will provide further lessons from the experience at all levels of society.“Those lessons must inform our preparedness for, and response to, any future pandemic or society-wide emergency in the future.“Our thoughts are very much with those who lost loved ones during the pandemic.”

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