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Alliance Party leader Naomi Long has said that never in her 20 years in politics has she felt “more depressed and disheartened” about the situation in Northern Ireland than this week.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Ms Long was highly critical of the Democratic Unionist Party for its refusal to agree to a two-week extension to the current Covid-19 restrictions in the North.
Ms. Long said it was “shameful and shameful” to witness the tactics put into practice as the Executive tries to rule in the midst of a pandemic.
Restrictions on hospitality business in Northern Ireland, which were due to end at midnight tonight, were extended after a protracted political dispute.
Beauty and hairdressing salons and premises without a license for alcoholic beverages such as cafes and coffee shops can reopen next Friday, with restricted hours at 8 pm
Restaurants, pubs and hotels will be able to lift the blinds on November 27. Pubs and bars will be able to sell closed offers from November 20.
Ms. Long said that anyone with a shred of “common sense or sanity” must have reconsidered their participation in an Executive that has failed the people of Northern Ireland for the past seven days.
She said the cross-community veto was designed to protect minorities, but instead resulted in Northern Ireland’s largest party voting against the Health Minister’s proposal to extend Covid-19 restrictions by two weeks. .
“The degree of perversion of the original intention of that protection is exposed for all to see.”
He said the pandemic does not affect one community more than another.
“I can’t understand why there was a need to deploy that veto this week. It was completely inappropriate.
“We have a lot of work to do to repair the damage done … and never find ourselves in the same position again.”
Ms. Long said that if there were another debacle of this kind, she did not believe the Executive would be sustainable.
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The DUP’s use of the inter-community veto mechanism this week was a ‘perversion of democracy’, says Alliance party leader Naomi Long pic.twitter.com/nxgFOeUfxG
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 13, 2020
Ulster Unionist Party leader Steve Aiken said that for anyone who wants Northern Ireland to succeed and the Stormont Executive to function well, this has not been a good week.
Also speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said: “This political stance and bombast by the DUP has done no one any good.”
He described the DUP as “embarrassing” for not agreeing to the extension and letting it reach the “edge of the precipice.”
Mr. Aiken said it took until yesterday for the DUP to realize that the restrictions had to continue and ended with a compromise agreement with a one-week extension.
Aiken said that the UUP and other political parties are led by science and very good guidance provided by the Medical Director.
“We realize we have a significant problem. We were looking for a two-week extension,” and he said he hopes the one-week extension will still have a “significant effect.”
The deaths of another 15 people in Northern Ireland with Covid-19 were announced yesterday, along with 548 new confirmed cases of the virus.
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