Swann hails landmark of 600,000 NI vaccinations

MORE than 600,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Northern Ireland, with almost 50,000 people here having had both doses.

Health Minister Robin Swann said the vaccination programme is “significantly ahead of schedule” as he paid tribute to everyone who has been involved in the effort and said: “Every jab takes us further down the pathway towards a better and safer future.

“We’re on our way to a million doses and very soon we will be rolling out the programme to all adults through the mass vaccination phase of the programme.”

Northern Ireland is expected to take delivery of a significant amount of vaccine next week, while plans are under way to open a mass vaccination centre at the SSE Arena and Belfast where it will be possible to administer 40,000 doses a week.

It comes as Northern Ireland has recorded a drop in Covid-related deaths for the fifth week in a row in the latest sign the pandemic is being brought under control.

The latest Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) bulletin showed there were 44 deaths involving Covid-19

registered in the week to last Friday, February 26.

This is a fall from the previous week’s 78 and the fifth consecutive decline since the recent peak of 182 deaths registered in the week ending January 22.

The total number of Covid-related deaths registered in Northern Ireland up to February 26 now stands at 2,816.

Separately yesterday, the Department of Health announced that two more people have died here after testing positive for Covid-19. A total of 216 hospital beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients — 29 are in intensive care. Another 166 positive cases of the virus were confirmed. Some 1,226 new cases have been recorded over the past seven days — a 29% drop from the 1,788 recorded in the previous seven days.

After the two further deaths, the Department of Health death toll now stands at 2,068.

The figures from Nisra are the latest boost to hopes that the Executive will be able to announce a relaxation of some restrictions when it meets to review the situation on March 16. The statistics were published after it emerged that the R-rate currently stands between 0.65 and 0.75, while the positive case rate is down to 5%.

THE Executive Office does not currently have the money to fund Troubles pensions, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Senior judges were told the department would foot the bill for the compensation scheme if its budget is increased.

But counsel for one of the socalled hooded men insisted that a mandatory order should be made for payments to begin. Barry Macdonald QC said: “This is just further prevarication.”

Last month, the court declared that the Executive Office was under a legal duty to fund the programme of pensions. That followed a long-running dispute between Stormont and Westminster over who should pay for the £1.2bn scheme.

Parties were given a four-week deadline to find a solution.

In an update on Friday, the court was told the Secretary of State had met with Stormont ministers and officials have been involved in further discussions.

Due to the potential for a resolution, a three-week adjournment was sought.

Opposing the application, Mr Macdonald argued that a mandatory order should be made now “requiring the Executive Office to do what they should have done this time last year”. He insisted: “These discussions, in one form or another, have been going on since October 2019 when the legislation came into force. The obligation to make the payments was in force last year.”

However, a barrister representing the Executive Office said there was a “misunderstanding” about the extent of funding available to his client.

“The position has always been that the Executive Office will fund the scheme when it has the money. It doesn’t have the money,” Philip Mcateer said.

He described it as a small department, with a budget of around £118m to meet other commitments, including £50m ring-fenced for historical institutional abuse compensation.

“The reality is there simply isn’t any money,” Mr Mcateer submitted.

“It will be our submission the court cannot order a party to do something which it cannot do.”

During the hearing, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan pointed out that money for the scheme had to be obtained from the Department of Finance.

Adjourning the case, he directed that it is joined to proceedings as a notice party.

‘The reality is there simply isn’t any money’