Michelle O’Neill and Arlene Foster also due to give evidence this week
Screen grab from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry live stream of Northern Ireland Health Minister Robin Swann giving evidence in Clayton Hotel in Belfast on Monday. Photograph: UK Covid-19 Inquiry/PA Wirepandemic that it was almost as if there was a “live feed” on social media, a public inquiry has heard., who served as health minister during the crisis, said the handling of Executive papers on Covid regulations was one of his “largest frustrations”.
After describing the destabilising effect of “real-time” leaks, Mr Swann was asked by inquiry chair Baroness Hallet if consideration was ever given to banning personal devices during private Executive meetings. A leaks inquiry was undertaken by a senior civil servant at the Department of Finance in 2020 but there was “never any finding” that he could recall, Mr Swann said.
Concerns about Stormont’s preparedness for the pandemic were also raised after it emerged at an earlier hearing that its civil contingency planning for disasters short of war hadn’t been reviewed for more than 20 years. But he added that it was also a “strength” as he did not have to answer to party political colleagues.
Ms O’Neill served as deputy first minister from January 2020 until February 2022, while Ms Foster was first minister from January 2020 until June 2021.Investment of €104m in four Science Foundation Ireland centres to be announcedTobacco sales: Raising legal age to 21 should be ‘stepping stone’ to complete phase-out, charity saysMOST READ
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