NI should have locked down sooner, Foster says

Baroness Arlene Foster has said she accepts responsibility for how the executive handled the Covid pandemic.

Baroness Foster was Northern Ireland's first minister from 2016 to 2017 and during the pandemic from January 2020 until she resigned on 14 June 2021.

She told the UK Covid inquiry Northern Ireland should have locked down sooner than it did to prevent more deaths.

But she added: "We felt we had time and we didn't have time, and that's a source of great regret."

This is not be the first time Baroness Foster has appeared before the inquiry.

In July 2023 she said the UK government should have stepped in to make decisions in the absence of ministers at Stormont from 2017 to 2020.

Health officials have said the absence of ministers impacted the preparedness for health emergencies.

On Tuesday, the former deputy first minister Michelle O'Neill appeared at the inquiry.

During the hearing Ms O'Neill apologised for attending senior republican Bobby Storey's funeral during lockdown.

The former first and deputy first ministers fell out over the funeral, with the then DUP leader abandoning their joint news conferences for around two months.

However, they ended their sometimes difficult political relationship on good terms according to Whatsapp messages released by the inquiry.

The day before her resignation as DUP leader following an internal coup, the Sinn Féin vice president sent her a text saying: "I'm genuinely sorry if you don't get to bow out the way you had planned. Politics is certainly not an easy path."

Mrs Foster replied: "Thanks Michelle. Just felt you should know."

Three weeks later the former DUP leader thanked Michelle O'Neill for a card and gifts prompting the reply "You are welcome. Take care."