WEIR 'REGRETS DIVISION' OVER COVID SCHOOL CLOSURES

Former Education Minister Peter Weir has said he regrets that the debate over closing schools in Northern Ireland at the onset of the Covid pandemic created political division.

Lord Weir, a former DUP MLA, was Stormont's education minister from January 2020 until mid-2021.

He appeared before the UK Covid-19 public inquiry on Wednesday.

He said debate within the Northern Ireland Executive over closing schools created a "level of division".

The context for closing schools, the inquiry was told, was in mid-March 2020, days before the UK government announced a national lockdown.

On 12 March 2020, the Irish government announced that it would close all schools in the Republic of Ireland.

But the inquiry heard that the Stormont Executive met on 16 March where disagreement between ministers broke out over whether to follow suit.

'Antipathy' towards Conservative government

Lord Weir said he took the view that ministers should be following scientific and medical advice, which at that point did not recommend shutting down all schools.

But he said Sinn Féin and Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ministers had "one eye towards what was happening in the Republic of Ireland".

"There was a little bit of an element... the situation was that not only would they want to follow the Republic of Ireland, but there was a natural inclination not to follow what was happening in London," he said.

Lord Weir also suggested those ministers held a "level of antipathy" against the Conservative government under Boris Johnson.

The inquiry was shown handwritten notes from that meeting which showed divisions behind the scenes between the parties.

Lord Weir was asked by inquiry counsel Clair Dobbin KC how well children in Northern Ireland were being served when it came to the decision over closing schools, asking had it become "political and divisive?"

He replied: "I regret it became that, I felt there had been a level of consensus a few days before others wanted to take it in a different direction.

"At various levels it may have been seen as being directly political."

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Asked about notes provided to the inquiry about "confusion" about public messaging on schools at that point, Lord Weir said the executive's position had initially been joined up, prior to the Irish government closing schools.

But he said that changed "within 24 hours" when the then-Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill did a press interview calling for schools in Northern Ireland to close immediately.

Lord Weir also said that once the UK Government announced that schools in England were closing, advice from health officials at Stormont also changed and that schools in Northern Ireland should shut.

He acknowledged that it was "doable at that stage", with furlough schemes and finances available from Westminster to help support parents with childcare.

2024-05-08T11:30:16Z dg43tfdfdgfd