Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
POOTING THE BOOT IN
DUP minister hints nationalists mainly responsible for Covid spread He is branded a ‘disgrace’ after blaming Sinn Fein for breaking rules
EDWIN Poots was blasted last night for implying nationalists were mainly responsible for spreading coronavirus.
He was branded “an absolute disgrace” for saying the difference in infection rates between nationalist and unionist areas was “around six to one”.
The Agriculture Minister blamed the sharp rise in cases on Sinn Fein “breaking the rules” at the Bobby Storey funeral
in June. Poots added: “Others need to step up to the plate and demonstrate to the public that they are doing what is right and we need to ensure the public do what is right.”
But Sinn Fein’s Mid-ulster MLA Emma Sheerin said: “Edwin Poots’ comments are an absolute disgrace and entirely misleading.
“The evidence of the rise of Covid-19 infections is all around us and is claiming lives right across the world.
“Today two more people tragically lost their lives, we had 1 ,299 new cases, more than 200 people are in hospitals with Covid and 20 are on ventilators as pressure continues to mount on our health service and health workers.
“Sinn Fein’s focus is on working with the other Executive parties, including the DUP, to tackle this emergency situation.
“That should be Edwin Poots’ focus instead of trying to politicise and sectarianise the issue.”
The Agriculture Minister also criticised Northern Ireland’s latest coronavirus restrictions and claimed his party opposed several of them.
He said the DUP was essentially outnumbered by other parties in the powersharing coalition when it came to imposing measures that will see the hospitality sector closed for four weeks and schools for two.
In a dramatic intervention on a day when Northern Ireland recorded another record number of cases, Mr Poots claimed some of his colleagues at the Executive “don’t seem to care” that people would lose their jobs.
The minister also claimed Stormont’s chief medical officer Dr Michael Mcbride and chief scientific adviser Professor Ian Young have indicated to ministers that at least two more lockdowns would be required over the winter months.
He said the two expert advisers have
also told him privately what they believe is the main cause of Northern Ireland’s spiralling infection rates but have not made it public.
Mr Poots pointed the finger of blame at certain sporting activities and, in particular, post-match celebration events.
Asked in an interview with BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback programme if he was referring to the GAA, the minister replied: “I am not labelling one particular group of people but if people feel the cap fits, that’s entirely up to them.”
Mr Poots said he questioned the logic of applying a 25-person limit on weddings and funerals when larger numbers were permitted to normal church services.
And he asked why traffic and human interactions at school gates could not have been better managed, rather than closing schools.
Mr Poots said it also made more sense to provide funding for councils to employ more enforcement officers to monitor compliance with regulations in hospitality outlets rather than closing down the whole sector for four weeks.
And the minister added he would also have preferred more targeted localised restrictions in areas that have the worst infection rates, rather than blanket steps covering the whole region.
He told Talkback: “I would have grave reservations about a number of things that have been applied.”
“We need to be smarter on how we tackle Covid.”
Asked if the DUP had been overruled at the executive, Mr Poots replied :“We area minority on the Executive and we stated our case but it’s very evident that all the other parties were prepared to go with this and therefore that is the outcome.”
“We are deeply concerned about the wellbeing of the future of Northern Ireland, jobs, education and if we need to protect people’s health, we need to do it in a much more structured way than just this broad brush approach and simply close the country.”
There were 1,299 new Covid-19 cases reported in Northern Ireland yesterday and two further deaths linked to the virus.
There were 213 patients with Covid-19 being treated in hospital, with 26 in intensive care.
Edwin Poots is trying to politicise the issue EMMA SHEERIN YESTERDAY