Shambles at Stormont shows world how not to handle a pandemic
There may now be vaccines to finally get Covid-19 under control, but the Executive’s inability to unite in face of global health crisis is proof we will never find a cure for dysfunction at heart of our politics, writes Mark Bain
WE have been around the board in the game of Covid since February. And here we are back at square one.
From Boxing Day another sixweek period of lockdown kicks in, a price we will pay for having a more relaxed Christmas.
Of course, navigating a way through what has been the most unpredictable year any of us can remember isn’t a game. But could it have been played any better?
On January 4 a short social media post from the World Health Organization went largely unnoticed. A cluster of pneumonia cases — with no deaths — had been reported in Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province.
As the virus was silently, rapidly spreading, no one could have predicted how quickly our lives would change.
Within weeks our political leaders would face the most difficult decisions they would ever take.
In Northern Ireland a year that had started without an Executive in place is now closing with ministers under sustained scrutiny over their handling of the pandemic crisis.
It was early February when Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael Mcbride began holding briefings for the media as the virus continued to sweep the globe.
In Europe there were scenes of chaos in hospitals in Italy and Spain.
Even then, despite Dr Mcbride’s best attempts to alert us, coronavirus was something happening elsewhere in the world.
We would learn lessons from the spread in mainland Europe, we were told. Shame no one was paying attention in the classroom.
In truth we have all been l earning as we progressed through the disaster of 2020, and that includes those who have been trying to chart the path out of Covid-19.
On the evening of Thursday, February 27, our first confirmed case was announced.
Dr Mcbride said at the time he was “confident that the steps that the individual took upon return to Northern Ireland, based on advice that was relayed, and indeed the prompt and rapid action by Public Health Agency colleagues, will ensure that we’re able to contain this”.
Those words were likely said to ward off panic rather than with conviction of belief.
By March 4 there were warnings over school trips to Italy and Spain, and fears over available beds in our intensive care units ahead of a surge in cases.
And there was the first mishandling — started long before Covid reared its ugly head thousands of miles away. Our health service, which had been run down to such an extent that staff had been on strike just weeks before, was never in a position to cope with what was to come.
And it all went downhill from there...
Dissent in the Stormont ranks began on Thursday, March 12.
In what was at the time a rare show of unity, First and Deputy First Ministers Arlene Foster and Michelle O’neill jointly insisted that the Executive chose not to close schools based on scientific evidence.
However, in a U-turn less than 24 hours later, Mrs O’neill announced that schools, universities and colleges should close, saying “now is the time to take action”.
She was accused of utter recklessness over her solo run, as Ulster Unionist Party leader Steve Aiken claimed Sinn Fein was “seeking to politicise public health”.
By March 18 there was an announcement that schools would close, and the education system was thrown into chaos.
As fears over the virus spread, we faced shortages of hand sanitiser and saw a rush on toilet rolls, but most urgently, the clamour to ensure our hospital staff had enough personal protective equipment to carry out their jobs safely reached fever pitch.
There was good news, then, when Finance Minister Conor Murphy announced on March 27 that Northern Ireland, working with the Republic, had secured an order from China for the much-sought-after PPE.
But by April 3 faces turned red as the minister was forced to confirm the order was not completed, saying the plan failed when “major economic powers entered the global race for PPE”.
Tensions were high during that first week of April, with the pandemic barely started.
Soon there were leaks from within Stormont surrounding a heated Executive meeting where Sinn Fein ministers “went on the attack”.
Rumours were circulating that it had been said Mr Swann (Ulster Unionist Party, Health) wasn’t up to the job; that Diane Dodds (DUP, Economy) was too slow to act; that Peter Weir (DUP, Education) and Naomi Long (Alliance, Justice) were not up to the game, and that Nichola Mallon (SDLP, Infrastructure) wasn’t standing her ground against the other non-sinn Fein ministers.
Later that week criticism was deflected in the direction of Mr Swann.
Sinn Fein hit out at his decision to formally request assistance from the Army to help deal with the crisis.
Mr Swann said he had asked the military to assist with the distribution of lifesaving equipment and in the planning for a temporary emergency hospital at the former Maze Prison site.
Sinn Fein said there was no need for military help at this time, and it would be seeking urgent meetings with the British and Irish Governments.
Mrs O’neill said Mr Swann had “unilaterally, and without consultation with Executive colleagues, requested limited assistance from the British Army”.
But by April 16 she was saying she won’t “stand in the way” of the Army helping to combat the Covid-19 emergency.
Throughout May and June Stormont embarked on a fivestep plan to gradually come out of lockdown.
No one knew where they stood, what step they would be in, where they could go, how many people they could meet, and where.
Gradually the steps became fragmented as some sections of the economy opened and some didn’t. But we couldn’t understand the science behind why we could go to a supermarket or a restaurant, yet not visit a museum or theatre.
And at the beginning of August the UK Government’s Eat Out to Help Out campaign to support the struggling hospitality industry drew thousands following lockdown, and with everything going on in the background at Stormont, ministers still peddled the “we’re all in this together” line.
Cue perhaps the biggest fiasco, the funeral of veteran republican Bobby Storey on June 30.
Numbers attending funerals had been strictly limited. Families had abided by the regulations, however hard it was.
But the attendance of Mrs O’neill at the funeral along with other Sinn Fein ministers, officials and the thousands lining the streets of west Belfast, led to a crisis.
There was bitterness from families who had forgone funerals for loved ones; even more so when it emerged there had been special treatment at Roselawn crematorium while others had been locked out of joining loved ones for their final journey.
Mrs Foster called on Mrs O’neill to resign following her attendance at the Storey funeral. The First Minister said she “cannot stand beside” the Deputy First Minister and “give out public health advice”. Thus ended the joint Stormont press conferences and the supposed united front.
The rumblings from the Storey funeral still rankle, with Mrs O’neill and Sinn Fein only willing to apologise for “the hurt caused”, not for breaking the Covid guidelines.
On July 29 the handling of Covid in nursing homes came under the spotlight as a damning report into a government policy advising hospitals to discharge patients into care homes without
Covid-19 testing showed how the sector was “left to fend for itself ”.
Dr Mcbride had admitted in May the response could have been better, adding that lessons would be learned.
The true scale of what happened in our care homes will take time to unravel.
Move forward to August 13, and more chaos, this time over school exam results.
Pupils had known since April exams were cancelled and results would be based on assessed grades. But when the A-level results were published, 37% of estimated grades were lowered, while 5.3% were raised.
There were tears as many students feared they had lost places at university after receiving lower grades than expected.
But after a torturous four days, Mr Weir announced that A-level and GCSE results would be based on teachers’ assessment alone. Many saw their grades rising back to expected levels. And GSCE results arrived without a hitch.
At the same time head teachers started tearing their hair out over arrangements to reopen schools for the new term.
How would they manage social distancing? How many pupils would be allowed in each class? Will there still be home learning? So many questions with so few answers.
Inter-party rows continued in October, sparked by comments from Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots.
The DUP man was told by Sinn Fein’s John O’dowd to apologise for saying coronavirus was much more prevalent in nationalist areas.
Mr Poots said the difference in transmission between nationalist and unionist areas was “around six to one”.
Another minister going on a solo run, he also criticised new lockdown restrictions imposed by the Executive to manage the virus.
The Department of Health had to issue a statement saying it was vital to stress that Covid-19 represented “a threat to everyone in society, regardless of their background, and that it is spreading across the community” in Northern Ireland.
“For the record, data on Covid infections is not collected according to religious or political affiliation,” it added.
Perhaps Covid was trying to prove a point when Mr Poots contracted the virus earlier this month while in hospital for an operation to remove his appendix.
Throughout the year we have been in, then out, of lockdown.
August 10 was the date the hospitality and entertainment industry had been waiting for.
The doors would finally open again for theatres and so-called “wet pubs”.
Except they wouldn’t, as a last-minute U-turn at Stormont kept them shut, despite all the preparations for a safe reopening.
September 1 was then the date the hospitality and entertainment industry had been waiting for.
The doors would finally open again for theatres and so-called “wet pubs”.
Except they wouldn’t, as a last-minute U-turn at Stormont kept them shut, despite all the preparations for a safe reopening.
Sound familiar? It was becoming that way.
Opening; closing; heads spinning; money disappearing; desperate calls for financial aid, jobs threatened across the industry — no one knew what would come next.
September 23 was the opening date. They didn’t stay open for long.
Decisions, decisions. If only we had people in power paid to make them. Oh wait, we do. But for a spell in November it looked like we didn’t.
Phrases like “Stormont stalemate” and “talks in deadlock” have been trundled out hundreds of times over the years. But in the midst of a pandemic, a second wave engulfing Northern Ireland, details of another lockdown were not forthcoming.
We waited. The talks at Stormont went on long into the night, and the next night.
The time for anyone to prepare for what lay ahead now disappeared.
With Christmas on the horizon economic factors played more heavily into the equation, but the Health Minister — fighting his corner — wanted a longer lockdown to save lives.
A last-minute compromise of a new two-week period of restrictions was finally agreed — reluctantly on both sides of the argument — that would take us into the second week of December.
Better late than never, though businesses left in limbo wouldn’t agree.
All they wanted was an early
decision so they could prepare.
We have just about reached Christmas. And what we are left with is a short period of grace where we can, in restricted bubbles, gather with family and friends to celebrate the festive season.
Could we go to see grandparents? What if there are 16 people in the family? Who is left out?
In the middle of all that confusion schools remained open, with cases breaking out and forcing children into isolation over Christmas.
After tough lockdowns, what we’re left with now amounts to little more than that old parental warning: “If you eat too many sweets you’ll get sick.” Since when did any child listen to that at Christmas?
There will be a price to pay in January for trying to have a happy festive period. The medicine is six more weeks of lockdown.
And still the “he said, she said” blame game continues.
Yesterday morning, on RTE Radio, the Deputy First Minister reiterated her stance that “I have never deviated from the public health advice”, but, pointing the finger, added: “The DUP has.”
A vaccination programme may bring Covid-19 under control in the year ahead, but a vaccination to get politicians working together for the common good has yet to be found.
At the dawn of 2020 we had no idea what furlough was, or the R-rate; what PPE stood for; how to self-isolate and shield; or why the curve needed flattening; whether we were a key worker, and if we could get away with wearing pyjama bottoms in work meetings on Zoom.
We haven’t even touched on the confusion over localised lockdowns, which saw two sides of the same town facing different restrictions; or the issues facing towns along the border where, depending on which side you stood on, dictated whether your hairdresser was open or not; or what exactly constitutes a substantial meal.
But we did know Northern Ireland would find a way to bicker through the crisis, take wrong turns down cul-de-sacs, backtrack, and find ways to blame someone else. No health pandemic could change that.
‘Decisions. If only we had people in power paid to make them. Oh wait, we do...