[ad_1]
An emergency meeting of the Northern Executive was held Monday night to discuss travel from Britain amid concerns about the most virulent new strain of coronavirus to emerge in England.
The ministers were due to meet on Tuesday, but the meeting was unexpectedly moved forward following calls for a meeting on Monday night.
They are expected to discuss legal advice obtained by Health Minister Robin Swann from the Attorney General on the legality of imposing travel restrictions between the North and Britain.
It is understood that Swann is not proposing an immediate travel ban, but has recommended issuing a guide warning against non-essential travel between the North and the Republic, as well as between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
It has also warned that anyone arriving north self-isolate for ten days and has called for more work to be done to examine the legalities around any possible travel bans.
Sinn Fein’s Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill said on social media Monday night that the situation was “very serious” and that the Executive “must meet tonight.”
“There is no time to lose [SIC]by agreeing to a travel ban from Great Britain. Belfast and Dublin must act together to keep everyone on this island safe. ”
Yesterday, Northern ministers were divided over whether travel to Northern Ireland from Great Britain should be banned to limit the spread of the most infectious new strain of Covid-19.
Ministers are also considering strengthening passenger location forms for those arriving in Northern Ireland.
Concerns about travel from Britain were raised at an emergency executive meeting on Sunday. Ministers discussed a short-term amendment to the Public Health Act 1967, which would allow a temporary ban on internal travel within the UK.
Sinn Féin is in favor of introducing a travel ban from Britain, but its partners in government, the DUP, argue that existing rules blocking travel from the hardest hit Level 4 areas in England are sufficient.
After a “detailed conversation” at the executive meeting Sunday night, Swann said he was asked to speak to the Attorney General “about the details of the legality of the use of the 1967 Act.”
The Minister was repeatedly challenged by Sinn Féin in the Assembly on Monday, and MLA Pat Sheehan accused the Executive of “wavering and delaying” over the introduction of a travel ban.
He said he had received information from someone in the airline industry detailing a flight that had departed Belfast on Sunday with 30 passengers and that it “had to bring 80 from Heathrow and returned with 160.
“People who couldn’t fly to Dublin rebooked their flights, and all flights this week to the north here are going to be filled in the same way,” Sheehan said.
His party colleague, MLA John O’Dowd, said: “Sometimes there are moments to act and seek forgiveness later. Surely it is time to act ”.
SDLP MLA Cara Hunter said it shared “concerns about flights arriving north, and we have seen decisions made in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh around the new Covid variant, but we are here today with no action.”
The Alliance Party also supports the travel ban.
Swann defended the Executive’s decision to seek legal advice and said that no one should travel from England to Northern Ireland.
Under the stricter level 4 blockade currently in place in south-east England, Swann said that “you must not leave your home if you are on level 4, so you must not travel to Northern Ireland, you must not travel anywhere side”.
Of levels 1-3, which are current in the rest of England, he said the advice was to stay local. “Getting on a plane to get to Northern Ireland is not a local journey, so people shouldn’t do it,” the minister said.
In relation to concerns raised about “Republic of Ireland residents now using Belfast or Londonderry airports as a point of entry to the island,” Swann said, it was “regrettable that the Irish government took the intervention they did without interaction or warn ourselves that this is what they were going to do ”.
After announcing on Sunday that travel from Britain to the Republic would be banned for at least 48 hours, the minister said that he had “noticed afterwards that there were declarations that they would compromise. . . If we want to act together and coordinate a response, it is better that we really talk to each other before making decisions like that because it allows us to express not only our concerns, but also how we can look towards common approaches ”.
The Northern Department of Health (DoH) announced Monday that seven more people with coronavirus had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,203.
Another 555 people tested positive for the virus.
There are now 446 people receiving treatment for coronavirus in Northern hospitals, with 30 in intensive care.
Meanwhile, Northern Education Minister Peter Weir announced on Monday that no-test classes in post-primary schools would move to distance learning for at least two weeks starting January 25.
However, Mr. Swann said that he did not believe that returning to school as normal in early January was a “sustainable position” and that additional measures should be implemented.
[ad_2]