{"id":582911,"date":"2025-11-20T16:55:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T16:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582911\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T16:55:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T16:55:21","slug":"brexit-tensions-contributed-to-disconnect-between-london-and-dublins-covid-19-responses-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582911\/","title":{"rendered":"Brexit \u2018tensions\u2019 contributed to disconnect between London and Dublin\u2019s Covid-19 responses \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDeep tensions\u201d over Brexit<\/a> hampered the pandemic response in Northern Ireland<\/a> and contributed to a disconnect between the approaches taken by the governments in Dublin and Westminster, the UK\u2019s Covid-19<\/a> Inquiry has found.<\/p>\n

The report of the inquiry\u2019s second module, covering the UK-wide political response, also strongly criticises Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill<\/a> for attending the June 2020 funeral of senior IRA man Bobby Storey and for delaying her apology for doing so<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The report, by retired judge Heather Hallett, states that Ms O\u2019Neill, who was deputy first minister at the time, must \u201cbear responsibility\u201d for her actions, which led to a breakdown in relations between her and then first minister Arlene Foster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It states that the subsequent 10-week refusal by Ms Foster, the DUP<\/a> leader, to take part in joint press conferences with Ms O\u2019Neill on the pandemic hampered messaging to the North\u2019s public. Ms Hallett describes decision making across the North\u2019s devolved government departments as \u201cchaotic\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"ArleneArlene Foster leaving the Clayton Hotel in Belfast after giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 inquiry in May 2024. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

The report also highlights how the open Border between the North and the Republic made co-ordination of responses difficult. <\/p>\n

It states that on the first day in January 2020 that Britain\u2019s then health secretary Matt Hancock addressed Westminster about Covid-19, a coach trip from Wuhan in China \u2013 where the virus first originated \u2013 landed in England.<\/p>\n

The tour group went to Northern Ireland before crossing over the Border to the Republic on January 25th, even though one of the tourists onboard was already showing symptoms. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo steps were taken to prevent this group from entering Northern Ireland and travelling on to the Republic of Ireland,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

The 756-page report, released on Thursday, excoriates the political response to the pandemic across the UK as being repeatedly \u201ctoo little too late\u201d, particularly in the early stages. <\/p>\n

It also derides the \u201ctoxic\u201d culture in Downing Street under former prime minister Boris Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it expresses particular ire for the response of the Northern Ireland Executive, which had only been back up and running since January 2020 following a breakdown of powersharing.<\/p>\n

The report states that \u201con multiple occasions [in the North] decision making was marred by political disputes between DUP and Sinn F\u00e9in ministers\u201d.<\/p>\n

It states Ms O\u2019Neill\u2019s attendance at the Storey funeral and her initial failure to apologise \u201ccontributed to tensions\u201d in the executive. Ms Hallett describes a four-day meeting of the Executive in the North in November 2020 as a \u201clow point\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe confidentiality of discussions was undermined by leaks and there was inappropriate instigation of cross-community votes to make political points by First Minister Arlene Foster,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

The inquiry noted that Ms Foster said she was \u201cpersonally very upset\u201d over Ms O\u2019Neill\u2019s attendance at the Storey funeral. Ms Hallett writes that she found it \u201chighly regrettable\u201d that press conferences were suspended. She also criticises the North\u2019s executive for not having a longer \u201ccircuit breaker\u201d lockdown late in 2020.<\/p>\n

Decision making in the North was \u201cchaotic\u201d and undermined by the siloed nature of the various Stormont government departments, the report states.<\/p>\n

It highlights that health authorities in the North initially wanted the Republic to align for an all-island approach that was the same as the UK\u2019s. <\/p>\n

This was \u201cunrealistic\u201d, the inquiry found, when the Republic had introduced its own measures in March 2020 that were different from those in the UK.<\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Neill told the inquiry that the Republic\u2019s decision \u201cwas not good enough\u201d as it took Northern Ireland by surprise. <\/p>\n

The inquiry also heard that Ms Foster was advised by officials in the North at the time that there was \u201cno medical\/scientific evidence\u201d to support the response taken in the Republic \u2013 which was stricter than the UK\u2019s in March 2020.<\/p>\n

One official from the North told the inquiry: \u201cThere was undoubtedly a chill in relationships between the UK and Irish governments before the pandemic as a result of the tensions over EU exit.\u201d<\/p>\n

That there were Brexit-related \u201ctensions\u201d with the Republic was also acknowledged by Brandon Lewis, the UK government\u2019s former Northern Ireland secretary.<\/p>\n

Ms Hallett\u2019s report recommends that the Republic and Britain should better co-ordinate pandemic planning in future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship between the UK and the Republic of Ireland is of obvious importance, given their shared and porous border,\u201d Ms Hallett states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDeep tensions\u201d over Brexit hampered the pandemic response in Northern Ireland and contributed to a disconnect between the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[100164,5109,802,748,1117,93993,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,184129,20584,1144,11528,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-582911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-arlene-foster","9":"tag-boris-johnson","10":"tag-brexit","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-covid-19","13":"tag-dup-links","14":"tag-eu","15":"tag-europe","16":"tag-european","17":"tag-european-union","18":"tag-great-britain","19":"tag-matt-hancock","20":"tag-michelle-o-neill","21":"tag-northern-ireland","22":"tag-sinn-fein","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115583080028186785","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}