Northern Ireland became a ‘funnel’ to the Republic of Great Britain after travel ban, says NI Health Minister

STORMONT’S MINISTER OF HEALTH has expressed concern that Northern Ireland has become a “funnel” for people traveling to the Republic from Great Britain, after Ireland imposed a flight ban.

Robin Swann said the Irish government did not give the Stormont executive advance notice of the ban and suggested that ministers could have taken steps to address the passenger surge had they known.

“From what I know, when speaking with other ministerial colleagues, we had no idea about that,” he told a North Assembly scrutiny committee.

I think the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, like me, got the call after it was announced. So he left us as the funnel or the way to re-enter. If there had been more coordination and conversations, it could have made a difference.

The Ulster Unionist Party minister also questioned the Irish government’s decision to hire charter flights to get people back to Ireland while the commercial flight ban was in effect.

“They are bringing back the same people who would have been coming on those commercial flights for the last 48 hours, so I struggle to see the benefit of that ban if you bring back the same people from the same area but actually in a smaller compact number of planes and ferries, where they will interact, ”he said.

Speaking at a briefing in government buildings today, Ireland’s Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said the government was genuinely concerned about people coming to the Republic from Great Britain via Northern Ireland.

“We are concerned in terms of any kind of open door or other mechanism, the introduction of restrictions to travel between countries will mean that no one should travel except for essential and proper work or health or other reasons,” he said.

No ban

During his appearance before the committee, Swann explained the reasons for not recommending a travel ban between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

He highlighted the impact on supply chains and warned that medical stocks may have been at risk.

“We have a concern about our supply chains regarding anything that stops the movement of ferries or planes, because we are dependent, we are at the end of a very long supply chain when it comes to some drugs and some medical devices,” he said.

Sinn Féin’s proposal to temporarily ban travel between Northern Ireland and Great Britain was rejected during an emergency virtual executive meeting late at night.

Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill said there should be “an all-Ireland approach” to stopping incoming travelers.

That should have the focus from the beginning, Conor Murphy actually at the executive meeting last night proposed it. We said there should be a ban on any non-essential travel, north to south, east to west, it should apply across the board. It’s not about politics, it’s not about winning, it’s about dealing with a pandemic that none of us have been through before.

“I would encourage the Taoiseach to work with us, I would encourage the Taoiseach to try to get to the point where the entire island is closed to incoming travelers, to allow us to try to have the best chance of fighting this new variant,” O’Neill said .

– With reports from the Press Association