Robinson disagrees with Hallett findings over Stormont pandemic response

Covid Inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett did not give enough consideration to Northern Ireland’s system of government when she criticised Stormont’s response to the pandemic, Gavin Robinson has said.

The DUP leader said there was “nothing new” in the report published last week, and that he did not agree with her conclusions about the powersharing Executive.

Baroness Hallett’s report on government responses to Covid found that the political reaction to the pandemic in Northern Ireland was “deeply divided along political lines and beset by leaks, leading to an incoherent approach”.

The report said the attendance of then-Sinn Fein deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill at the funeral for veteran republican Bobby Storey in Belfast in June 2020 when there were tight restrictions on such public gatherings, and her initial refusal to apologise, “contributed to tensions in the Northern Ireland Executive Committee”.

It also said there was the “inappropriate instigation of cross-community votes to make political points” by former DUP first minister Baroness Arlene Foster.

The cross-community voting mechanism effectively hands blocs of unionist or nationalist ministers the ability to veto votes that would have otherwise passed on a straight majority basis.

Speaking at Stormont on Monday, Mr Robinson said: “I think most of the commentary I have read since publication suggests there was nothing new in the inquiry report.

“Baroness Hallett has captured some of the pressures that we know exist within our political system within the last number of years and the situation we lived through in coronavirus.

“There was nothing new in that for me. I don’t agree with her.”

Referring to her remarks about the DUP use of cross-community votes, he said they existed to “encourage consensus”.

Mr Robinson added: “Nobody wants to be in a situation where one party blocks the aspiration of another community on either side, but it is an important mechanism that is there to encourage people to work together.

“Baroness Hallett does not live in Northern Ireland, Baroness Hallett did not give enough credence to the fact that in Northern Ireland parties are forced to work together in mandatory coalition in a way that no other devolved or national government in the UK has to do.

“That she didn’t put weight to that is a matter for her.

“But I think the more important lesson to be learnt from the report that was published last week is that it really regurgitated what we already knew, it highlighted the appalling inappropriateness of the First Minister’s attendance at the Bobby Storey funeral.”

Ms O’Neill faced questioning about the report from SDLP Stormont leader Matthew O’Toole when she answered questions at the Assembly on Monday.

Mr O’Toole said: “Last week the Covid Inquiry report was clear and it was damning that the Executive’s response to the pandemic was marred because ministers, specifically ministers from your party and the DUP put party politics ahead of the public good during the biggest public health emergency in our lifetime.

“Executive powers were abused and ministers, including yourself, undermined the public health messaging, not just through the Bobby Storey funeral but also incidents like the refusal to agree a statement with other devolved jurisdictions.

“First Minister, do you accept the inquiry’s findings that your party, along with the DUP, failed in leadership?”

The First Minister said she was committed to learning lessons from the pandemic.

She added: “I don’t think any of us have anything to gain from dissecting or going over ground we have gone over before.

“I will take on board the learning from the report.

“We have already put some of those things in train and we will do much more in the time ahead.”