Robin Swann is appearing at the Covid-19 Inquiry in Belfast
He was the Northern Ireland health minister during the pandemic
His evidence is expected to throw further light on how decisions were taken and the political tensions that existed within the Stormont executive
Mr Swann's appearance comes as the inquiry begins its third and final week of hearings in Belfast.
Leaks were 'one of my largest frustrations'- Swann
We are now concluding today's live text coverage of the UK Covid Inquiry sitting in Belfast.
Thank you for joining us as Health Minister Robin Swann gave evidence to the inquiry.
For more on today's proceedings, read our main story here.
And you can continue to follow our live stream by clicking on the 'Watch live' button at the top of this screen.
Goodbye for now.
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, UK Covid InquiryThe chair of the Covid Inquiry, Rt Hon Baroness Heather Hallett, pays tribute to both Robin Swann and the chief medical officer.
She says both Mr Swann and Prof Sir Michael McBride had a "huge burden" placed upon them in their respective roles during the pandemic.
"You obviously worked very hard both of you, so thank you very much."
Mr Swann has now concluded his evidence.
The counsel representing Disability Action, Anita Davis, asks the health minister why on 25 November 2021 when Disability Action wrote to him requesting an "urgent meeting" to discuss the "disproportionate impacts" of the pandemic on disabled people, he declined that meeting.
"It's one, on reflection, where I could have answered differently," he says.
"There is no slight or no offence meant in that response," he adds.
Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent
The inquiry is shown a letter from several health care providers to the health minister, the chief medical officer (CMO) and the permanent health secretary which called for leadership and action.
Mr Swann says the dissatisfaction from care providers was also being shared by other health care workers.
The letter describes health care providers feeling “overlooked” when it came to how the Department of Health was attempting to tackle the virus.
Mr Swann says during the pandemic it became increasingly difficult to keep care home residents safe.
He accepts in those early days that "sadly whatever was done was not enough and that there was a weakness".
Counsel for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice NI, Peter Wilcock KC, put it to Mr Swann that between 20-30% of deaths during the pandemic 2020 and 2022 took place in care homes.
Mr Swann admits more could have been done.
Image source, Getty ImagesMr Swann then says from October 2020 they lost the commitment and respect from the people of Northern Ireland.
He adds when it came to the second wave that people had let “their guard down” and the Bobby Storey funeral had made an impact.
Robin Swann says it wasn’t until May 2020 that asymptomatic transmission was accepted in Northern Ireland despite guidance of that nature provided from England’s CMO in January of the same year.
Covid Inquiry: Health Minister Robin Swann speaking on Monday
Image source, PacemakerMs Dobbin asks Mr Swann about the funeral of republican Bobby Storey in June 2020.
Bobby Storey from north Belfast, who died in June 2020, was linked to several major incidents, including the £26m Northern Bank robbery in 2004.
He was also northern chairman of Sinn Féin.
The then deputy first minister Michelle O'Neill and other senior Sinn Féin figures were widely criticised for attending the funeral, with claims they broke coronavirus guidelines.
Speaking to the inquiry, Mr Swann says it was an "extremely challenging" time period for the executive, and that many within health and social care saw it as a "blatant breach" of the regulations.
He also says he acknowledges former Sinn Féin Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín's apology over attending the event that was given in the inquiry last week.
"Those media briefings that portrayed the difficult messages where it was the first minister, deputy first minister and myself, portrayed to the people of Northern Ireland a really strong, united fronted message no matter what political spectrum or belief people came from."
He says around the time of Mr Storey's funeral, the joint briefings ceased and this in turn helped lose the public's confidence.
Ms Dobbin asks Swann about the four-day-long Executive meeting that began on 4 November 2020 about extending restrictions.
She asks him about the deployment of a cross-community vote during the meeting and whether he agreed with this.
"I think those four days were the lowest I've ever experienced in politics in Northern Ireland," he says.
He adds that while the use of a cross-community vote on covid restrictions may have been "legally" right, "I question whether it was morally right".
Image source, PA MediaMarie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent
Just before the short break, Robin Swann said it wasn’t until June that recommendations were being made from one executive paper - and that should have happened a lot sooner.
However, he says that not having a whole-government approach until that point did not have an impact on what was happening on the ground "as regards lockdowns, school closures, all those sections".
The inquiry is taking a break now and Mr Swann is expected to continue giving evidence afterwards.
It is set to return at about 15:17 BST. Stay with us.
Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent
Image source, ReutersMr Swann says that when Northern Ireland came to enquire and seek out PPE, it was at the end of a very long supply chain.
He tells the inquiry it was for the Executive, as elected representatives, to make decisions and not others, including The Executive Office and the chief medical officer (CMO).
He says the main point of “travel” and communication was through the CMO's office.
He adds at that point in March, the CMO was the main source of information and that he regarded Prof Sir Michael McBride as his principal adviser on the response to the pandemic.
He adds he felt frustrated that Covid and the pandemic was being seen through a “health prism” and little else.
Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent
Image source, PacemakerSpeaking about the Covid lockdowns, Mr Swann tells the inquiry it was a UK decision, and when it finally came there was no preparation for it.
He agrees the deficiencies around civil contingencies in Northern Ireland had a material impact on the response to the pandemic from January 2020 onwards.
He says it all crystallised about 10 March and the penny dropped for him about the “grave position” Northern Ireland was in.
Counsel suggests, as the department leading the response, should it not be clearer to him when “the penny dropped for other ministers".
“It is not up to me to speak on behalf of other ministers,” Mr Swann adds.
He says in the weeks leading up to lockdown there was “insufficient attention paid or consideration given to the sorts of impact a lockdown would bring".
"I regret that in regards to that level of preparedness as well and that's why the seriousness, the intensity, the duration of that lockdown was not something that had been contemplated or planned for."
Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political correspondent
Mr Swann rejects suggestions that his department saw the executive as a "thorn in its side" in the early days of the pandemic.
He was responding after the Covid-19 inquiry showed minutes of an executive meeting in March 2020.
Handwritten notes show then-deputy first minister Michelle O'Neill claimed Mr Swann's department viewed the executive as getting in its way.
Mr Swann said he regarded the comment as "unfair".
The inquiry was shown an email he sent to other senior health officials on 31 March 2020, describing Ms O'Neill's remark as a "parting dig" and that other ministers had at the time, phoned him "expressing not just their disgust but in support of the work and professionalism" within the department.
Ms Dobbin puts it to Mr Swann that the first minister and deputy first minister felt that they were not in control of Northern Ireland's response to the pandemic and that the Department of Health was acting in a "unilateral" manner.
Documents released by the inquiry previously showed an email from the then head of the civil service, David Sterling, to fellow officials.
It quoted the then deputy first minister Michelle O'Neill telling him: "We need to be driving this crisis, we need to be in control".
Mr Swann says he is "now aware of the frustrations of the first and deputy first minister through this inquiry".
He adds: "I only wish that they had expressed them at the time to myself."
Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesMarie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent
Mr Swann says that a Cobra briefing on 19 March drove home the potential threat of the virus.
Counsel to the inquiry says the figures had been set out before that point – Mr Swann says he cannot explain why it wasn’t until that point that things were brought into a “sharp focus”.
Ms Dobbin says that on 25 January Scotland was able to provide an overview and have an understanding of the potential impact of the virus.
However, it took until 19 March for Robin Swann to work out the figures himself on a piece of paper and it was spelt out to ministerial colleagues.
Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent
Counsel to the inquiry asks Mr Swann several times what exactly the government had done to prepare for the pandemic by 10 March.
Mr Swann says there had been interactions by the permanent secretary and the chief medical officer and several briefings with civil contingency branches.
Mr Swann is then asked whether he had conveyed the level of severity of Covid to other Stormont ministers.
He says that he does not believe he is responsible for colleagues not "understanding the seriousness of Covid", but adds that if he hadn't sounded alarm bells with "that level of seriousness" that they were picking up on, then it was a failing on his part.
"I've always accepted my responsibility and accountability for the office that I hold, it's something I hold very serious and something that I've a great honour and privilege to hold," he tells the inquiry.
"So if there's a failure on my part, on my behalf, to alert other ministers as to what was coming down the line, I'll accept that."
The inquiry also hears that on 9 March officials were still discussing activating NICCMA (Northern Ireland Central Crisis Management Agency)
Mr Swann confirms on 16 March there was no plan to close schools as they were following SAGE plans.
Mr Swann says that in early March he had expected a "central hub" to be staffed in order to co-ordinate a cross-departmental response "as and when it was asked for".
However, he tells the inquiry "that wasn't case".
He says: "There was a clear indication that the staff wasn't there to do that"
"That’s the bit that I still find and do find concerning," Mr Swann adds.
Image source, ReutersJayne McCormack
BBC News NI political correspondent
Image source, Covid InquiryThe inquiry hears that it was "utterly extraordinary" that at an executive meeting on 10 March 2020, questions were raised about whether there were sufficient contingency plans in place across Stormont departments.
Ms Dobbin put it to Mr Swann that it appeared by then, there was "no sense of any cross-departmental response" to Covid in Northern Ireland.
The minister says he agreed that is what the minutes of the meeting demonstrated.
The minutes show the first and deputy first ministers discussing coordination between departments, with the then first minister Arlene Foster asking "have we got plans to handle" this.
But Mr Swann says his department had undertaken surge plans and had moved to provide briefings to other departments.
Robin Swann, the health minister, is being questioned again now as the inquiry resumes after its break.
He is being asked about briefings that were given to the Northern Ireland executive about covid.
The inquiry is now taking a break for lunch.
It is due to get under way again at 13:45 BST. We'll bring you more from Robin Swann's evidence then.
Image source, ReutersMr Swann says that while systems for contact tracing did exist in the early stages of the pandemic they "couldn't be expanded quickly enough".
But he also notes that they were limited by the ability to carry out tests at the stage before home testing kits became available.
He adds there were "challenges and deficiencies in the PHA in regards to that testing ability which weren't brought to my attention at that time".
Mr Swann says he didn’t agree there was a lack of understanding about the pandemic throughout February - but accepted that perhaps the Department of Health didn’t ring the bell loud enough for other departments to act and to take up their responsibilities.