Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HOL YER WHISHT
Airport boss hits First Minister says as ‘unhelpful’ health Swann spoke ‘too chiefs rule out travel soon’ as R rate falls
THE boss of Belfast City Airport has hit out at the Health Minister after he said foreign holidays are “very much” out this summer.
Brian Ambrose, CEO at Belfast City Airport, said the recent comments by Robin Swann and the Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael Mcbride, were “both premature and unhelpful”.
On Wednesday, Mr Swann dismissed the prospects for foreign travel and on Thursday Dr Mcbride added that booking a summer trip abroad would be “premature” due to rising coronavirus cases in Europe.
But Mr Ambrose claimed their “personal observations have severely dented consumer confidence” and said it came at a time when the vaccine programme was being successfully rolled out and “should enable responsible summer travel to certain countries”.
However First Minister Arlene Foster offered a glimmer of summer holiday hope yesterday telling people it was “too soon to book, but too soon to rule it out”.
In his statement the City Airport boss said: “Ministers and senior civil servants must carefully consider the severe economic consequences of their public comments.
“As an airport we would never challenge decisions made by the Health Minister in relation to the running of the health service.
“However, we would expect decisions on international air travel to emanate from the NI Executive, rather than the Health Minister or an advisor.
“At this point, our expectation is that the Government will present guidance to both the travel industry and the public. It is in this context that we believe that recent comments were both premature and unhelpful.
“These personal observations have severely dented consumer confidence, at a time when our vaccine programme is being successfully rolled out and should enable responsible summer travel to certain countries.
“For many within our society, the thought of an international holiday this year may be a step too far.
“However, for many who have toiled and endured the last 12 months, a summer holiday, following a vaccination, is a muchneeded panacea.
It comes as First Minister Arlene Foster said Northern Ireland is set to adopt the UK’S coronavirus red list of countries.
Brazil and South Africa are on the current red list of countries from which entry to the UK is banned.
The Stormont Executive also heard that work is ongoing on hotel quarantine plans for travellers arriving from abroad.
There are currently no international flights landing in Northern Ireland.
Deputy First Minister Michelle O’neill said international travel was discussed in some detail by the Executive.
“This is a fundamental concern for us all as we seek to manage the risks that are arising from the new variants and align with the scientific and medical advice we have agreed the introduction of managed isolation and hotel accommodation on return from red list countries for a period of ten days to be pre booked before arrival here,” she said.
“This will be kept under review and our arrangements for managed hotel isolation will be flexible to enable a broader approach on international travel to be put in place should the need arise.”
When asked about Mr Ambrose’s comments, Mrs Foster said he was right that the Executive were waiting on the
Minister’s recent comments were unhelpful
BRIAN AMBROSE CEO BELFAST CITY AIRPORT
reports from the Global Travel Task Force. She said it was “too soon” to say whether people would be able to go on international travel this summer.
“My view is it’s perhaps too soon to be booking your holidays but it’s also too soon to be ruling them out as well because we haven’t had that report yet,” said Mrs Foster.
Ms O’neill added: “People are really desperate for something to look forward to and I understand that, I feel that myself so I think it’s really understandable that people will be really disappointed by what was said yesterday. I think it’s just about trying to be honest with the public around, there’s so much uncertainty around what’s going to happen over the next number of months and it’s still difficult to predict just whether or not there will be travel or not come the summer period. All we can do it keep people informed along this journey as best we can but clearly we have got to a really good point today, we want to keep that going but we need to be gradual and sustainable in terms owhat we are able to lift.
“I understand people wanting something to grab on to and we hope to be able to give clarity when we can, unfortunately it’s just too far out at this stage to be able to give people 100% guarantees because you can’t do that in a pandemic.”
Meanwhile at their joint press conference on Thursday, the First and Deputy First Ministers welcomed “improvements across all indicators”, in terms of Covid-19. The R-rate for cases of the virus is currently estimated at between 0.75 and 0.95.
Ms O’neill said: “I’m heartened to see our shared efforts are working because that means that more lives are being saved.” And she welcomed a second consecutive day of no further coronavirus deaths as a “welcome sign we are continuing to move in the right direction”.
Another 183 confirmed cases of the virus were recorded by the Department of Health in the last 24-hour reporting period on Thursday. while 153 Covid-positive confirmed inpatients in hospital, of whom 14 were in ICUS.
Meanwhile, the region’s vaccination programme passed three landmarks on Thursday.
The total number of vaccines administered has pushed past 800,000, while the number of first doses provided has passed 700,000 and the number of second doses has moved beyond 100,000.
It’s just too far out to be able to give people guarantees MICHELLE O’NEILL ON FOREIGN TRAVEL