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FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER Simon Coveney has said that he has been assured by Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis that there is no blockage of Covid-19 funding from the British government to Northern Ireland.
There were 923 new coronavirus cases announced in Northern Ireland yesterday.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Coveney said that while there is a perspective that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under pressure to release further funding, that is not what he was told during his meeting with the Northern Ireland Secretary in Belfast yesterday.
Coveney said that he was told by Lewis that “finance from London shouldn’t be a problem”.
“What he is saying is that the British government has already made significant funding available to the Executive specifically for Covid in Northern Ireland and the response there,” Coveney said.
I’d like to speak to some of the senior politicians in Northern Ireland today to establish exactly what is the blockage there, because certainly Brandon Lewis, the Secretary of State, was very clear with me yesterday that funding should not be the blockage.
“If funding is necessary for an effective Covid response in terms of public health response in Northern Ireland then London will look at that seriously.
“If there is a blockage based on a lack of funding from London to Northern Ireland then we need to address that and Brandon Lewis, speaking to me yesterday, was happy to address that.”
Coveney said that there was a need to “act quickly” as there had been “a dramatic spike” infection spread in Northern Ireland, particularly in the Derry-Strabane area, and said that the high number of cases in Donegal was most likely related to this.
We’re not in the business of erecting barriers on the border between North and South – we fought for three years to make sure that doesn’t happen as a consequences of Brexit.
“There may be two jurisdictions on this island with one landmass where populations move and can affect each other and so we have to have a common approach,” the Minister said.
Northern Ireland’s CMO Dr Michael McBride and Dr Tony Holohan will meet today.
On the issue of a NPHET recommendation of moving to Level 5, Simon Coveney said that he heard about it first on RTÉ’s Nine O’Clock News.
He said that whenever anything serious happens in the country, himself and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar speak, as deputy leader and leader of Fine Gael respectively.
“The version of events the Tánaiste has outlined and outlined again in the Dáil yesterday is certainly my experience of what happened,” Coveney said.
When asked whether he meant that nothing was known before, and that this was a bolt from the blue, he replied: “The more we talk about what happened last Sunday, the more we’re distracted away from what we really need to be focusing on.”
- with reporting from PA News
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I would like to be proven wrong, but i suspect that no matter, what funding is offered, what discussions take place on this issue or how strong the desire is to coordinate a sensible all ireland approach to covid 19, the unionists will say no to it, because that is what they do…
Coveney it does not matter what assurances the British give, history proves the British renege on their assurances and promises, even when they are legally binding.
@Ferg: In all fairness what has it got to do with Coveney? Imagine if the UK swanned into Dublin and demanded to know if we were going to maintain our Covid payments at a level whereby people could stay at home & watch Netflix. Why do we think the North should do what we say instead of us doing what they say? Yeah so there are is an increase in cases but there isn’t a jump in deaths & of those that have died with a mention of Covid on their death cert they seem to be over 80 with another serious illness that was dispatching them to the next world anyway. Roll the uproar but nothing I have said isn’t true so why are be sentencing people to home imprisonment?
@Joe Thorpe: it’s called the Good Friday Agreement.
@Joe Thorpe: have you not heard about the cross border initiative that exits since the Good Friday Agreement?
@Joe Thorpe: Go on out for a walk and clear that massive head of yours.
restore the pandemic payment to those who have lost their jobs and could end up homeless and then start worrying about britain and northern ireland
@frank_1916: with regards to homelessness landlords should be prohibited from making somone homeless because a person has lost their job due to Covid, they should be forced to accept a HAP payment.
What’s a UK assurance worth these days under a leadership that advocated breaking international agreements?
The North’s funding coming at the behest of No 10 does complicate the fight against Covid
….ah but can you believe them now….?
@Michael Murray: no more than believing the Irish government
No.10 is not looking after the English in regards to Covid it is rampant , the Scottish seem to be struggling terribly , I wonder has it to do with funding issues as payback for Sturgeons Anti-Union/ Scottish Independence policy. The Welsh have the country in Lockdown a few weeks now ( but we never hear anything about them ) so I’m not surprised the North is struggling too.
It wont be long before the Republic is struggling in hospitals with Covid ( lockdown is unavoidable, just depends for how long)
Un-Cooperative people are to blame, Guidelines were in place after the first Lockdown.
@Paul Buckley: The UK is testing 384,622 per million of their population only Israel is testing more people in the whole world so of course they will find cases. We are testing how many? Last I saw was we have a capacity for 13,000 not that we are doing 13,000 just we have a capacity & we cant process those tests. We also have to pay for the test unless you have convinced your GP (that you had to sling €60 at) that you are worthy of a test.
@larry duff: Langer….
“Of three things beware; the teeth of a dog, the horns of a bull, the word of an Englishman.”
Ask Mary Lou she might know
Is that assurance that there is ‘no block of Covid-19 NI funding’ or that they are not blocking Covid-19 funding for NI?
Sounds to me like they have just not provided any funding for NI.
have your say