NI power-sharing vacuum to be examined in Covid inquiry

Lead counsel to the Northern Ireland module of the inquiry, Clair Dobbin KC, told chairwoman Heather Hallett a ministerial executive in Belfast was re-established after a three-year impasse in January 2020 - just a month before the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in the region.

The Stormont Executive imploded in January 2017 when the late Martin McGuinness resigned as Sinn Féin deputy First Minister in a row over the DUP's handling of a botched green energy scheme. But, standing back from that, the main question appears to be what impact it had on those who picked up the reins of power in January 2020 and who were not just beginning to run government again in Northern Ireland and all that that entails, but who were thrust headlong into dealing with a rapidly unfolding pandemic.

"Standing back and pulling the lens out, as it were, I anticipate what you may also want to scrutinise, given the unique power-sharing arrangements in Northern Ireland, is whether and to what extent politicians pulled together for the good of all people and to what effect," she said.

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