Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THIRST OF MANY
Booze flows again as pubs and restaurants reopen after lockdown
THIRSTY punters had their first taste of freedom yesterday as bars reopened across Northern Ireland.
In Belfast, hundreds of people took advantage of the easing of lockdown with the city’s Cathedral Quarter, Church Lane and Pottinger’s Entry proving busy.
Northern Whig manager Ger Keaney said: “I’ve noticed a massive buzz today. People are nervous but once they experience the trip back to the pub they’ll get used to it.”
FIRST Minister Arlene Foster has said Michelle O’neill’s apology after controversially attending a republican funeral “falls short”.
The Sinn Fein politician has been in the eye of a public storm after being accused of breaching social distancing guidelines when she joined around 1,800 people at Tuesday’s ceremony in West Belfast for Bobby Storey.
The Deputy First Minister acknowledged people were offended but added: “I would never set out to hurt any family or compound their grief at such a sad time.
“Anybody that’s had their hurt compounded I wanted to say sorry to those people. And I think that’s important.
“Let’s distance ourselves away from the politics and go back to what is at the heart of this. Some families are upset and I want to recognise that and acknowledge that.”
But Mrs Foster said her power-sharing partner’s words did not go far enough.
She added: “Regrettably, the role of the Deputy First Minister in causing that hurt has not been acknowledged today.
“I think it falls short of that. I regret that that is the case.”
Mrs O’neill was accused of undermining the Executive’s drive to keep Northern Ireland safe from the virus that has been linked to 826 local deaths.
The row escalated yesterday when it emerged Mr Storey, a former IRA leader, had not in fact been buried at Milltown Cemetery despite a lengthy, mass gathering there.
He was cremated following a service at Roselawn Cemetery on the outskirts of East Belfast shortly afterwards.
Mrs O’neill has been asked to step aside by the DUP’S Jeffrey Donaldson, pending an investigation and the UUP, Alliance, TUV and the SDLP have also called for her to stand down.
They are concerned her appearance in such a vast crowd has damaged confidence in the social distancing messages over Covid-19.
Mrs Foster has echoed their calls, adding: “It is important that we try and rebuild that trust that has been lost. “Unfortunately, the credibility of that messaging has been badly damaged over this past week.”
Mrs O’neill has insisted she acted within the rules in respect of all the things that were within her control.
She said: “I will never apologise for attending the funeral of my friend. I can stand over the fact I worked within the guidelines and regulations in terms of attending a requiem mass, which was allowed, and also to walk in a funeral cortege of up to 30 people.”
Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie said the Milltown rally had created a “circus”.
He added: “The news that Bobby Storey was cremated in Roselawn Cemetery on Tuesday raises a number of questions for Sinn Fein.
“Why in the midst of a global pandemic did they feel the need to call hundreds of people on to the streets of West Belfast if the plan all along was to hold a cremation ceremony several miles away in the east of the city?
“And what was the point in taking a coffin to a graveyard only to then transport it to a crematorium?
“Were people’s lives really put at risk from Covid-19 just so Gerry Adams could perform a speaking engagement in Milltown Cemetery?
“The procession to Milltown was nothing more than a needless piece of republican street theatre.”
Mrs Foster yesterday urged the public to focus on staying safe from Covid-19 after the fall-out from the funeral.
But she added Mrs O’neill could not “escape the reality” that regulations and guidelines had been broken during the ceremony.
Mrs Foster said: “I would again appeal to everyone across Northern Ireland to remember we are still in the midst of a pandemic.
“Whilst recognising the personal pain and anguish experienced by many during Covid-19, we don’t want to slip back and we do need to take sensible precautions to keep moving Northern Ireland in the right direction.”
She said Sinn Fein had been forced to make a statement about Mr Storey’s funeral because of the reaction of “people from all faiths and none”.
Mrs Foster added: “It is right to apologise for the hurt inflicted on many, many people but sadly there is no acknowledgement from the Deputy First Minister that this hurt has been caused by her actions.
“She let people down by her actions and those of her ministerial team. In our view the Deputy First Minister has not grasped the depth of feeling and widespread anger that exists across all communities in Northern Ireland.
“There has been no recognition that regulations and guidelines were broken and the Deputy First Minister cannot escape that reality.
“All must be equal under the law and equally subject to the law. More than ever Northern Ireland needs us to remain focused and we are determined to remain focused and provide Northern Ireland with a roadmap to guide us through both the health and economic challenges that still lie ahead of us all.”
Mrs Foster confirmed a number of formal complaints had been made and a series of inquiries, including one by the PSNI, are under way.
The UUP has now called for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr Storey’s cremation at Roselawn Cemetery.
There have been claims that a number of council staff were sent home from the site during the funeral and that no burials were permitted after 2pm and no cremations after 3pm to accommodate Mr Storey’s service.
The council said plans were put in place for people appointed by the Storey family to work with it in stewarding the event so “those allowed on the site were only those permitted by the family”.
They added employees had been allowed to leave work early “in order to avoid a situation where staff would be photographed.”
Some are upset and I want to recognise that
MICHELLE O’NEILL YESTERDAY