Stormont’s ‘road map’ is on hold until PM’S speech
HEALTH Minister Robin Swann has said he would have liked to have received prior knowledge of the Republic of Ireland’s plans for easing the coronavirus lockdown before it was announced last Friday.
Mr Swann addressed the issue at yesterday’s daily media briefing at Stormont hours after a government minister in the Republic defended the decision to press ahead with publishing plans to ease lockdown restrictions without informing the Northern Ireland Executive.
At Monday’s Covid-19 briefing, First Minister Arlene Foster said Stormont had not received advance sight of the plan before it was published.
That came despite a memorandum of understanding beployment tween the jurisdictions’ two health officials which was signed last month.
Mr Swann said yesterday that he understood the Republic’s lockdown exit plan was made by the Cabinet on Friday afternoon and then immediately presented to the public.
“Would I have liked to have seen more of a conversation, yes. Was it politically possible for them to do that? That’s a call for the Irish Government to make.”
Mr Swann said any decisions around the steps Northern Ireland will take on exiting the lockdown will be an internal matter for the Executive.
He added: “Good manners is to talk to your neighbours and to make sure what you’re going to do, whether it’s always possible in these particular situations, it isn’t always practical at this minute in time.”
Mr Swann said he hoped to have conversations with his counterparts in the Republic around whether or not the UK’S contact tracing app could be compatible with theirs.
Speaking earlier on RTE’S Morning Ireland, Regina Doherty, the Irish minister for emaffairs and social protection, said she didn’t know why Northern Ireland ministers were not briefed about the plan to reopen the Republic.
“But I think what our most important task to do after we had our cabinet meeting on Friday was to tell Irish people,” Mrs Doherty explained.
“And that is what the Taoiseach did at the first opportunity after that cabinet meeting was over.”
Ms Doherty said that “in hindsight” maybe the First and deputy First Ministers should have been told of the detail.
She added, however: “The most important thing we needed to do was to tell the people we serve, the Irish people, and that is what we did on Friday evening.”
Tanaiste Simon Coveney later told RTE’S Today with Sean O’ROurke programme that a “headsup” was given to Arlene Foster, Michelle O’neill and Robin Swann the night before the road map to easing restrictions was announced but precise details were not shared.
Mr Coveney added that the Republic’s Minister for Health Simon Harris and his counterpart, Mr Swann, have a close relationship and there is frequent communication between the two chief medical officers.
However, Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’neill criticised the Irish Cabinet for not sharing details of their exit strategy with herself and Mrs Foster in advance of its publication last Friday.
She said: “I think it is unfortunate that he chose to not share that detailed information ... that would have been the natural and helpful thing to do as we work our way through this.”
A DETAILED road map to take Northern Ireland out of lockdown is unlikely to be published this week, a senior Stormont source has said — although Sinn Fein wants it tomorrow.
The Executive is expected to wait until after Boris Johnson outlines his Uk-wide plans in an address on Sunday.
The source said it would be next week at the earliest when the parties were likely to have agreed a document, outlining in detail potential dates for opening shops and services and relaxing other regulations.
The source said: “We want to provide clarity to the public and lay out a step-by-step approach. But the danger in doing that is that people get it into their heads that lockdown is ending and they take their foot off the pedal and start relaxing.
“We’re in a decent place with Covid-19 but we are very much still in the woods. It’s not the time to not make a dash for the exit.”
The Stormont source said: “The first objective in the plan to put Northern Ireland on the road to recovery must be the protection of life and health. Then, we look at protecting jobs and the economy.”
He added: “We will be waiting to see what Boris Johnson says on Sunday. The most critical factor in the recovery plans of the devolved nations is the future of the job retention scheme, which is the most generous in the world.
“We need to see how the Treasury propose moving forward with that post-30 June. The decision it takes will be critical for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
But Deputy First Minister Michelle O’neill said the Executive should publish its plan tomorrow, rather than wait for the British road map on Sunday.
“The public are awaiting eagerly the publication from the Executive of ‘what is next? What does the next couple of months look like?’
“And for them I want to be able to get us to a position of where we actually publish that plan on Thursday.”