Consultation concerns raised at North-South Coronavirus meeting

Dy David Young, PA.

Stormont ministers have raised concerns with the Irish Government over a perceived lack of consultation on its lockdown exit plans.

The issue was discussed at a virtual meeting on Tuesday involving senior ministers from both administrations and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis.

Later, Stormont health minister Robin Swann said the executive was being made to look as if it should be "playing catch up" with moves south of the border.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he and Tanaiste Simon Coveney did inform counterparts north of the border ahead of Friday's announcement on an acceleration of Ireland's road map to recovery.

Leo Varadkar

But First Minister Arlene Foster and Mr Swann are among those to have voiced concerns about the extent of that consultation.

Northern Ireland ministers have previously expressed concern about a lack of consultation ahead of other steps taken by the Irish Government during the Covid-19 emergency.

Mr Swann told Tuesday's daily Covid-19 briefing that he had raised it directly at the now regular cross-border political "Quad Call" earlier in the day.

The call involved Mr Coveney, Ireland's health minister Simon Harris, Mrs Foster, Mr Swann, Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Mr Lewis.

"Where they moved without giving us a lot of consultation as to their movements was raised," said Mr Swann.

"I raised it because it does put our executive into a place where it seems that we should be playing catch up, when in fact we're not.

"We were always clear from the start that our programme was not being date-led, it would be led by where the coronavirus was in Northern Ireland and where science is."

Mr Swann acknowledged it was for the Irish Government to make its own decisions on its lockdown plan.

"The strategic decision that the Irish government made in regards to last week, in regards to how they came out of their restrictions, was one for them to make," he said.

"We have asked that approaching the next date that there is more of an engagement, so that we can make sure we're on similar pages, similar understanding.

"But it has always been clear that the Northern Ireland Executive will make its own decisions when the time is right for the Northern Ireland Executive."

During Tuesday's call, they also discussed efforts to ensure compliance with quarantine regulations imposed by both the UK and Ireland on overseas travellers.

It come amid concerns about the monitoring of people who arrive into one jurisdiction from overseas and then travel across the border to get home.

Mr Swann said discussions were ongoing about getting "mutual signage" in place at airports and ports across the island, informing passengers what the law was on the opposite side of the border.

He stressed that the restrictions people must place themselves under are the restrictions that apply in their place of residence, not their port of arrival.

"So if you land in Dublin and come to NI you're duty bound under our regulations," he said.

"If you land in Belfast and go south you're duty bound under their regulations."