[ad_1]
The Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland has said that there should be an all-island ban on non-essential travel to combat the possible spread of the new variant of the coronavirus.
The party proposed a travel ban between Great Britain and Northern Ireland at a special meeting of the Stormont Executive last night.
The measure was supported by the SDLP, but the DUP, Ulster Unionists, and the Alliance Party voted against it.
Unionists have accused the party of playing politics and said it was illogical to try to ban travel from Britain without banning travel from the Republic of Ireland.
It occurs when another 16 deaths from Covid-19 have been recorded in Northern Ireland.
The Health Department has said that the death toll recorded by the department now stands at 1,219.
An additional 439 cases of the virus have been confirmed in the last 24 hours of the report.
Speaking in Coalisland this afternoon after another Executive meeting, Stormont Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill said the party wanted legislation on both sides of the border to ban all non-essential travel.
“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,” he said.
“We need urgent action on all the islands.
“When it comes to north-south travel, my message to everyone is very, very clear, no one should travel unless essential. No one should take non-essential travel.
“Conor Murphy (Stormont Finance Minister) at the executive meeting last night really proposed that. We said there should be a ban on any non-essential travel, north-south, east-west, it should apply across the board.
“Conor Murphy proposed last night to the Executive to introduce legislation that does not have non-essential trips, we believe that should be the case throughout the island.
The Stormont Executive has issued guidance against all but essential travel between Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic.
Latest coronavirus stories
Ms O’Neill also said that targeting people in Northern Ireland to only leave their homes for essential reasons between 8pm and 6am during the first week of a new lockdown starting on Saturday will become law.
“It will be in the legislation,” he said.
“We just discussed that this morning in the Executive, so that the law is written now, but we believe that it is very, very important to send that message, that this is not just an encouragement.
“Here we have the opportunity to try to face this situation, now we have this new variant, we need everyone to try to work together to achieve it and we believe that the legislation is the best way to do it.”
Meanwhile, Stormont’s health minister has expressed concern that Northern Ireland has become a “funnel” for people traveling to the Republic of Ireland from Great Britain after the flight ban.
NI became a ‘funnel’ for returnees – Swann
Robin Swann said the government did not give the Stormont executive advance notice of the ban and suggested that ministers could have taken steps to address the surge in passengers had they known.
“As far as I know, speaking with other ministerial colleagues, we had no preview of that,” he told the Assembly’s scrutiny committee.
“I think FM (prime minister) and DFM (deputy prime minister), like me, got the call after it was announced.
“So he left us as the funnel or the way to get back in.
“If there had been more coordination and conversations, it could have made a difference.”
Swann also questioned the 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.
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.
Swann also told members that as of yesterday, some 20,000 people had received their first injection of the Covid-19 vaccine in Northern Ireland.
He said 309 nursing homes had been vaccinated, almost two-thirds of the total number of homes in Northern Ireland.
The minister said it included 7,311 residents and 8,600 employees of the nursing home.
[ad_2]