Families walk to opening day of NI Covid-19 inquiry – RTE.ie

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has opened in Belfast today where it will hear several weeks of testimony.

It will look at decision making in Northern Ireland during the pandemic and how it contributed to the handling of the crisis.

Families who lost loved ones to Covid-19 during the pandemic walked to the opening day of hearings this morning.

There was emotional testimony on the steps of the inquiry as they talked about their relatives and the questions they want answered.

They include whether a different approach to the pandemic could have saved lives and whether delays in the provision of healthcare led to some people dying of otherwise curable forms of cancer.

Among those due to give evidence are representatives of bereaved families, health professionals, current and former senior civil servants, and Stormont politicians.

The inquiry is likely to examine tensions between the parties who made up the Stormont Executive at the time and whether it fed into Covid decision making.

The inquiry will sit for three weeks in Northern Ireland.

Among the areas it will cover is the Stormont government's response to the emerging crisis.

That will include the initial reaction, subsequent decision making, and both the political and civil service performance.

There is also likely to be a considerable focus on rules around public gatherings and funerals including .

There was an outcry in Northern Ireland when large crowds of republicans, including senior Sinn Fin politicians, attended the funeral of former IRA leader Bobby Storey.

The public prosecution service later decided not to bring any charges due to what it said was a lack of "clarity and coherence" within the regulations.

This incident was raised during the inquiry today.

Former DUP agriculture minister Edwin Poots also caused controversy when he claimed there was a higher incidence of the infection in nationalist areas.

'Significant underestimation'

Counsel to the Inquiry Clair Dobbin KC said Covid-19 had struck Northern Ireland during a "fragile" time politically.

The power-sharing Executive had just been re-established after a three-year collapse and had to confront an unprecedented public health emergency just months later.

She questioned whether there had been a "significant underestimation of the speed and scale of what was unfolding" and little evidence of urgency.

In the early days of the pandemic, the inquiry heard that the Executive appeared to be reacting not leading with people left people to make their own decisions.

Ms Dobbin said the June 2020 funeral of veteran IRA leader Bobby Storey had undermined political consensus and asked whether it had damaged public confidence in the restrictions in place at the time.

The inquiry was also told that ministerial WhatsApp messages had been deleted on devices belonging to both Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill, who were first and deputy first ministers at the time.

They apparently did not receive a message from the inquiry that all such communications were to be kept as potential evidence.

A barrister for bereaved families later described this as a "sorry revelation".

Peter Wilcock KC for the families said at times it appeared that "party politics mattered more to some senior politicians than following the science".

He was particularly critical of Sinn Fin for attending Mr Storey's funeral at the same time as ordinary families were being denied by Executive decisions they had helped take.

Documents produced to the inquiry also showed deep frustration on the part of Northern Ireland's Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride.

In a communication with Health Minister Robin Swann in Autumn 2020, Mr McBride described - what is believed to be a reference to other executive ministers - as "dysfunctional".

He added: How will we ever get through this with an enemy within. I've a good mind to walk off and leave them to it, as no doubt do you.

"But then those that really matter, those whom they seem to have forgotten they represent, are really depending on us."

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Ms Foster and Ms O'Neill, who were first and deputy first ministers at the time, are expected to give evidence in the weeks ahead.

Inquiry chair Heather Hallett met eight bereaved families in Belfast last night ahead of the proceedings.

One of the first groups she will hear from - Northern Ireland Covid Bereaved Families for Justice - represents around 150 families.

Brenda Doherty is a founding member.

Her 82-year-old mother Ruth Burke was the first woman to die of the infection in Northern Ireland.

Ms Doherty said she hoped it was important to have the inquiry in Belfast to look specifically at Northern Irelands experience.

She said that Northern Ireland had at times too closely followed UK rules when the circumstances were different and that there should have been greater cross border partnership to better tackle the pandemic.

Ms Doherty said: "Recommendations cant sit on the shelf and gather dust, were always the last tram.

"So actually to have them here, to have the chair meet the families who are taking part in a listening exercise, because its our voices that need to be heard."

She said her family was still dealing with the trauma of losing their mother during lockdown with all the restrictions that accompanied the death and funeral.

Ms Burke contracted the virus while in hospital and was the fourth person to die in Northern Ireland and the first woman.

"It was a closed coffin, we didnt get to bring her home, we met her at the cemetery gates," she said.

"My brothers and her grandsons still struggle with the fact that they didnt get to carry her," she added.

At the time, ten family members were allowed in the cemetery but only Ms Doherty and her sister were allowed at the graveside.

"I went to touch the coffin and I was told that I couldnt touch it and I couldnt be there til mummy was in a hole in the ground, so I didnt even get to touch her coffin," Ms Doherty said.

"And after that the cemetery gates were closed for three weeks and we werent allowed in until the restrictions at cemeteries were lifted," she said.

"For us as a family, mummy dying without any of us there, we will never, ever get over that," she added.

Ms Doherty said: "Theres a lot of guilt, and the families that we support I would say the guilt is not ours to carry, we were only following guidelines.

"But you still feel guilty and I dont think my mummy would have understood why none of us were there.

"She was as sharp as a nail, but I think if someone was trying to explain to her that she had to die without any of us, she wouldnt have been able to comprehend why that was."

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Families walk to opening day of NI Covid-19 inquiry - RTE.ie