O'Neill denies funeral affected Covid compliance

First Minister Michelle O'Neill has denied that her attendance at the funeral of republican Bobby Storey during the Covid pandemic impacted on the wider public compliance around lockdown rules.

She told the Covid Inquiry there was "no evidence to suggest that was the case".

She was responding to earlier testimony by former first minister Arlene Foster that there was a "break down" in compliance after senior Sinn Féin leaders attended the Storey funeral.

O’Neill described Foster's remarks as "politically motivated".

Foster had said the attendance of Sinn Féin leaders at the funeral had "hung over the Executive" at a time when ministers were trying to promote the message of compliance during the pandemic.

Both the current and former first ministers were giving evidence at the inquiry about how the Northern Ireland Executive dealt with testing, tracing and isolating during the pandemic.

Foster told the inquiry the funeral controversy caused "severe difficulties" in of compliance and adherence at the time.

She was responding to concerns raised by the then health minister Robin Swann about the failure of the executive to promote greater compliance during the lockdowns.

During a previous appearance at the Covid Inquiry last year, O'Neill apologised for her role in the funeral controversy.

"My actions compounded the hurt, my actions also angered families. I am sorry for going and I am sorry for the hurt that's been caused," she said in May 2024.

The Covid Inquiry was ordered in May 2021 by the then prime minister Boris Johnson and public hearings began almost two years ago.

During her evidence on Wednesday, O'Neill told the inquiry she opposed the decision by the Department of Health to stop testing and contract tracing in March 2020.

She described it as a "misstep" and added it was at odds with World Health Organisation advice at the time.

She did not agree with "blindly" following the actions taken by the UK government at the time when it moved from containing the virus to delaying it.

In her testimony, Foster denied the executive had been distracted by a "fraught" meeting which followed the department's tracing decision.

At the time, some ministers challenged the Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Michael McBride about the move, during which "people were shouted down".

Foster also talked about the "mixed messages" from Sinn Féin ministers who had called for schools to shut a day after the executive had agreed to keep them open.

She said she hoped the experience of the pandemic "will urge people to look what is important and not get bogged down in political difference".

In his evidence to the Covid inquiry, Northern Ireland's Chief Medical Officer defended the decision to stop community testing for Covid in March 2020, saying they had no option.

He explained there were only 200 tests available in Northern Ireland on a daily basis at the time, which was insufficient, and the resources were needed elsewhere.

"There was no sense in testing those in the community who were well when we needed to test those in hospital who were unwell," Sir Michael said.

"We had to make use of the limited tests available for outbreaks in care homes and hospitals."

Sir Michael was also asked about the possible link between Mr Storey's funeral and a lack of public compliance with Covid rules at the time.

He told the inquiry there was "no evidence that is the case" from a scientific or public health view.

He linked the rise in cases with the relaxation of some restrictions by the executive, which led to an increase in people mixing and coming together in different environments.

Trevor Patterson, who lost his 75 year old-brother Samuel during the pandemic, said he wanted to find out from Wednesday's hearings what lessons had been learned in Northern Ireland.

He told Good Morning Ulster he and his sister were permitted a final phone call with Samuel before he died which he described as the most difficult call he's ever had to make.

"We weren't terribly sure how aware he was of how serious the situation was, so we had a fairly light-hearted conversation," he said.

"We mentioned that we loved him and his answer was 'I know'."

He added: "I suppose what I would like to know is what have each of those people who are appearing today learned?

"Because one of the things that doesn't always come across in the inquiry is an acceptance that things were wrong and if you don't accept things were wrong you can't learn from them."

Hearings are due to end next February.