Former Northern Ireland First Minister Baroness Arlene Foster has apologized for how the country’s executive handled the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking to the UK Covid Inquiry, Baroness Foster, who was the first minister from 2016 to 2017 and then until she resigned in June 2021, said Northern Ireland should have locked down sooner than it did in order to prevent more deaths. She added, “We felt we had time and we didn’t have time, and that’s a source of great regret.” Baroness Foster also questioned her party’s use of a cross-community vote mechanism in autumn 2020 to prevent the extension of some Covid rules, something critics have called a means of vetoing the measures.
During testimony, Baroness Foster agreed with former Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s comments that there was “by and large no real oversight” at Stormont around planning for the early stages of the pandemic. However, she insisted that she felt she had offered the necessary guidance during her time in charge, acknowledging that dealing with Covid was the most challenging period of her political career. The inquiry also revealed a texting controversy, in which the chief medical officer described a tense four-day executive meeting in November 2020 to prevent the extension of some Covid rules as “politics at its worst.” However, Baroness Foster said more attention should be paid to the fact that the text showed how exhausted everyone was at that point in the pandemic.
Baroness Foster told the inquiry that Northern Ireland should have locked down sooner to prevent more deaths and that she felt she had given the necessary leadership during her tenure. She expressed regret for the situation and said that it was probably the most difficult period of her political career. Baroness Foster also questioned the DUP’s use of a cross-community vote mechanism to prevent the extension of some Covid rules, which some critics have said was used as a means of vetoing the measures.
During testimony, Baroness Foster concurred with former Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s interpretation that there was no real oversight at Stormont during the early stages of the pandemic. However, she argued that she had given the required leadership at the time. The inquiry also revealed a texting controversy, in which the chief medical officer described a tense four-day executive meeting in November 2020 to prevent the extension of some Covid rules as “politics at its worst.” She expressed sadness at the texting controversy and the challenges of that difficult point in the pandemic
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