Arlene Foster, the former first minister of Northern Ireland, vehemently denies allegations that Stormont’s political leaders were caught off guard by the pandemic and thus “sleepwalked” into it without proper preparation. These claims were brought up at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry session in Belfast, to which she responded during a heated debate that she found such views to be “offensive”.
The Inquiry’s principal lawyer, Clair Dobbin KC, questioned the executive authorities’ reasons for not implementing fundamental countermeasures after the World Health Organization pronounced the pandemic on March 11, 2020. Arlene Foster, the ex-leader of DUP, gave her testimony during the last week of this public inquiry, which aims to examine the government’s handling of the situation.
Despite the delay in Stormont’s establishment of emergency planning after schools were shut down in the Republic at roughly the same time as the WHO’s declaration, Foster stated that they were aligning their actions with recommendations from the UK government’s expert scientific advisory panel at the time.
In response to Dobbins’ question on the proactive arrangements by Stormont, Foster vehemently stated that the suggestion that they would deliberately put the people of Northern Ireland at risk by being negligent is offensive. The debate was part of Foster’s description of leading the region’s pandemic response as possibly the most challenging period of her political career. When further quizzed about the quality of leadership her and her executive colleagues provided to the public, she pointed out that such a question was “subjective”.
“Why others perceive the quality of my leadership in their own unique ways. All I can say from my viewpoint is that I offered everything I could,” she expressed. “In my opinion, I provided the kind of leadership necessary for that point in time.”
However, Ms Foster did admit that a prompt lockdown would have been a better choice by the Executive. She mentioned a meeting with the Republic’s Ministers held in mid-March 2020 as evidence.
She recalled the words of our Chief Medical Officer, who believed that we were about 14 weeks away from the peak of the pandemic. “It was a grave miscalculation to think that we still had time at hand. I deeply regret it,” she confessed.
During the hearing, confidential text messages from the Chief Medical Officer of Northern Ireland, Dr Michael McBride, were shared. The texts criticised the DUP’s exploitation of a cross-community voting mechanism to stop further Covid regulations in late 2020. “This is the worst aspect of politics…they should be embarrassed,” he penned in November 2020.
Ms Foster admitted the messages were upsetting. “The Chief Medical Officer, much like the rest of us, was drained at that point in time,” she commented.
Ms Dobbin characterised the late 2020 era as the “low point of Northern Ireland’s political scene” and questioned Ms Foster’s acceptance of her part in the matter.
She was also questioned about any liability she felt for the results during the initial surge of the pandemic.
“Absolutely, I acknowledge that I had a role to play. I held the position of first minister when the crisis happened…upon reflection, we should have implemented stricter restrictions sooner,” responded Ms Foster.