Michelle O'Neill and Arlene Foster to appear before Covid Inquiry
Hearings are due to end next February.
'My actions angered families'
O'Neill, who became first minister in February 2024, faced claims she broke coronavirus guidelines in June 2020 when she attended the funeral of leading Irish Republican Bobby Storey.She had previously apologised for the hurt caused by her actions and any undermining of the public health message, but not for her attendance. She once said she would "never apologise for attending the funeral of a friend".But at the Covid Inquiry in May 2024 she said: "My actions compounded the hurt, my actions also angered families. I am sorry for going and I am sorry for the hurt that's been caused."When asked by the chair, Baroness Hallett, if she was aware of the hurt and anger at the time, O'Neill replied: "I didn't and I ought to have."Those hearings in Belfast also revealed the anger felt by former chief medical officer Michael McBride at how the executive had behaved during the pandemicThe inquiry was shown a text message sent by him which described it as "politics at its worst" and that they should "hang their heads in shame", although he did not refer to anyone in particular.
Foster talked of 'regret'
Baroness Foster, the former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader, was first minister during the pandemic. When the inquiry met in Belfast last May she rejected suggestions the executive had "sleepwalked" during the pandemic.In reply to a claim by Clair Dobbin KC that it was "really difficult" to understand why basic response plans were not activated by the time it was declared, she said the idea "we would expose constituents to this in a wilful way is frankly offensive".She said she "totally and absolutely" rejected the claim, as the executive had been determined to work for the people of Northern Ireland.The former first minister insisted the executive had been receiving advice from health officials, and that the Department of Health was taking the lead on the initial response to the virus.Baroness Foster was Northern Ireland's first minister from 2016 to 2017 and during the pandemic from January 2020 until she resigned on 14 June 2021.She was leader of the DUP from 2016 to 2022.She told the inquiry she accepted responsibility for how the executive handled the Covid pandemic, saying Northern Ireland should have locked down sooner than it did to prevent more deaths.But she added: "We felt we had time and we didn't have time, and that's a source of great regret."It was, said Baroness Foster, the most difficult time of her political career.The inquiry also heard Baroness Foster questioned about her party's controversial use of a cross-community vote mechanism in autumn 2020 to prevent some Covid rules from being extended.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Rachel Reeves to take aim at environmental protections in bid to speed up infrastructure projects, say reports
Rachel Reeves is preparing to strip back environmental protections in an attempt to accelerate infrastructure building and boost the economy, according to reports. The chancellor is considering major reforms that would make it more difficult for wildlife concerns to hold up developments, according to The Times. Treasury officials are said to be drafting another planning reform bill, the publication reported. The move reportedly involves tearing up parts of European environmental rules, which developers have argued slow down crucial projects. While Labour ministers have previously insisted their current planning overhaul would balance growth with nature, Ms Reeves is understood to believe that the government must go further. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill going through Parliament overrides existing habitat and nature protections, which, if passed, would allow developers to make general environmental improvements and pay into a nature restoration fund that improves habitats on other sites. But Ms Reeves is considering more contentious reforms that are likely to trigger further backlash from environmental groups, according to The Times. Among the changes under discussion are plans for a smaller, UK-only list of protected species, which would give less weight to wildlife considered rare across Europe but relatively common in Britain, The Times said. Ms Reeves is also reportedly considering abolishing the EU 'precautionary principle' that forces developers to prove projects will have no impact on protected natural sites. Instead, a new test would assess the risks and benefits of building. The chancellor is also exploring limits on legal challenges from environmental campaigners. Speaking to the House of Lords economic affairs committee last month, Ms Reeves said: 'The reason that HS2 is not coming to my city of Leeds anymore anytime soon, is because I'm afraid, as a country, we've cared more about the bats than we have about the commuter times for people in Leeds and West Yorkshire, and we've got to change that, 'Because I care more about a young family getting on the housing ladder than I do about protecting some snails, and I care more about my energy bills and my constituents than I do about the views of people from their windows.' High-profile examples of costly protections include the £100m Buckinghamshire 'bat tunnel' built to protect wildlife from HS2 trains and the so-called 'fish disco' at Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, which uses sound to deter fish from cooling system intakes. The existing Planning and Infrastructure Bill already proposes a 'nature restoration fund' under which developers could offset environmental damage by paying for conservation schemes elsewhere. But the bill has faced criticism from both environmental groups and developers, who fear it will fail to speed up construction. Paul Miner of the countryside charity CPRE told The Times that targeting habitats regulations would 'take us backwards rather than forwards on nature recovery'.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Rachel Reeves to cut ‘bats and newts' in boost to developers
Rachel Reeves is preparing to strip back environmental protections in an effort to boost the economy by speeding up infrastructure projects. The chancellor is considering reforms that would make it far harder for concerns about nature to stop development, which she insists is crucial to restoring growth and improving living standards. The Treasury has begun preparing for another planning reform bill and is thinking about tearing up key parts of European environmental rules that developers say are making it harder to build key projects. Labour ministers have repeatedly insisted that their current planning overhaul will not come at the expense of nature, promising a 'win-win' system where developers will pay to offset environmental damage. But Reeves is understood to believe that the government must go significantly further, after expressing frustration that the interests of 'bats and newts' are being allowed to stymie critical infrastructure. She has tasked officials with looking at much more contentious reforms, which are likely to provoke a furious backlash from environmentalists and cause unease for some Labour MPs. A smaller, UK-only list of protected species is being planned, which would place less weight on wildlife — including types of newt — that is rare elsewhere in Europe but more common in Britain. Developers would also no longer have to prove that projects would have no impact on protected natural sites, under plans that would abolish the 'precautionary principle' enshrined in European rules. Instead, a new test would look at risks and benefits of potential projects. Further curbs to judicial review are also being considered by Reeves to stop key projects being delayed by legal challenges from environmentalists. No decisions have been made, but work is underway and Treasury sources acknowledged there was a growing belief that the government needed to go further, as Reeves says she wants to make boosting Britain's sluggish productivity the centrepiece of her autumn budget. She argued this week that building more infrastructure such as roads and railways were crucial to this aim. A Planning and Infrastructure Bill currently going through parliament attempts to encourage development through a 'nature restoration fund' through which developers will be allowed to press ahead with projects by setting up schemes elsewhere to offset their environmental impact. • The grid is struggling — and our green future hangs in the balance But the plan has been criticised by environmental groups while also attracting scepticism from some developers, who fear it will not work in practice and do little to speed up building. Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, who stood down as energy minister in May, is urging his former colleagues to go further to achieve Labour's promise of 150 major infrastructure projects. 'While I think the planning bill will work for housing, I don't think it is sufficiently focused on the major infrastructure projects, so it is encouraging that the Treasury is going to have another look at whether we've really got this right,' he said. 'The government has to face up to the tensions in the Habitat Regulations which are making it hard to build essential infrastructure and the reality is that at some point someone needs to make a hard decision and say 'on some things, you just have to press ahead'.' The rules, which incorporate the EU Habitats Directive into British law, ban killing of hundreds of species, including types of bats, news, voles, snails, spiders, insects and woodlice. Developers must prove there is no risk to protected sites and species before being allowed to go ahead with projects, under rules which critics say impose an 'impossibly high standard' on vital projects. Reeves is increasingly sympathetic to such criticism, after repeatedly hitting out at 'ridiculous' environmental protections. She said last month that she cared 'more about the young family getting on the housing ladder than I do about protecting some snails', after a speech in January in which she said developers should be able to 'focus on getting things built, and stop worrying about bats and newts'. Sir Keir Starmer has also expressed frustration with the ability of campaigners to delay projects through legal challenges, and is already introducing rules which limit judicial review to override the 'whims of nimbys'. Campaign groups and residents, who currently have three opportunities to apply for judicial review, which will be reduced to two, or one in cases deemed by a judge 'totally without merit'. Reeves is now considering allowing only one opportunity to bring any challenge. Some Labour MPs and peers want her to go further by using dedicated acts of parliament to prevent any legal challenge to specific named projects. The plans are at an early stage and are likely to cause tension with ministers in other departments who have pledged to protect the environment. Paul Miner, of the countryside charity CPRE, said targeting habitats regulations would 'take us backwards rather than forwards on nature recovery', adding: 'We urge the government to drop the worn-out 'builders versus blockers' narrative which wrongly frames climate and nature as being in conflict with economic growth.' Becky Pullinger, of the Wildlife Trusts, said maintaining environmental standards was 'essential if we are to achieve targets to protect and restore the natural world which is suffering huge declines, saying Reeves should abandon 'the myth that deregulation will lead to economic growth'. But Robbie Owen, head of infrastructure planning at Pinsent Masons, said: 'Ministers are finally realising that their rhetoric about reform doesn't match up up the reality of their bill. We have been saying to ministers and officials all year that the bill needs to go further and it seems that message has finally been heard.'
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Trans ruling set to be big issue for SNP at next election
John Swinney's 'fear of activists' within the SNP has prevented him from implementing the Supreme Court ruling which asserts sex is defined by biology, a feminist campaign group has said. For Women Scotland (FWS) won the backing of the UK's highest court in April for its case that the legal definition of sex in the Equality Act is based on sex at birth, not by which gender people may want to be identified by. However, the SNP government has faced criticism for not implementing the ruling to enforce single-sex spaces for biological men and women in public sector services such as schools and prisons. Susan Smith, a director of FWS, which is taking the Scottish government to court for the second time over the issue, told LBC News that 'fear of activists' in the SNP was preventing ministers from implementing the ruling. She argued that its policies, including delaying implementing the ruling and making gender self-ID easier, were likely to backfire on the party in Scottish parliament elections next year. Sections within the SNP base still strongly support the policies pursued by Nicola Sturgeon, despite these now being viewed as costing the party wider public support. Swinney was 'risking making this an election issue', Smith said. John Swinney risks a lawsuit damaging him shortly before the Holyrood election next year JANE BARLOW/PA 'If we do end up going to court that will be close to the 2026 election and I cannot understand why John Swinney would want to preside over another humiliating legal defeat,' she said. Swinney had agreed to meet FWS to discuss the issue but later pulled out, saying he 'had a lot on his plate', Smith claimed. 'I think he'll be wishing had met with us,' she added. 'I don't know if the Scottish government thinks we'll get bored and go away but we won't.' The new legal action wants a court ruling on the legality of Scottish government's policies in prisons and schools. Under official guidance, men and boys who claim to have switched gender to female can enter single-sex women's spaces. The guidance also allows for biological males to compete against girls in school sports if they say they identify as female. • Hadley Freeman: Scotland is sullied by the cult of gender ideology Police Scotland became one of the first public services to exclude trans men and women from spaces such as toilets and changing rooms in offices and police stations designated for biological men and women last month. But the Scottish government is yet to update its advice to the wider public sector, including the civil service, schools and prisons, totalling hundreds of thousands of employees, saying it is waiting for official guidance from the UK-wide Equalities and Human Rights Commission. FWS said it had been left with 'little choice' but to take the Scottish government to court again after nationalist politicians refused to abandon gender self-ID policies, which the group says are now clearly in breach of the law. Formal proceedings began on Friday with the lodging of court papers. The Scottish government has 21 days to respond. The Scottish government said it would not comment on a live legal action.
