That's all from us for today - thank you for following our live coverage of the Stormont Assembly and the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

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BBC News NI

There's plenty still to come from the BBC News NI team this evening.

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BBC News NI

Sinn Féin has been accused of showing arrogance, self-entitlement and privilege over its actions in relation to the funeral of Bobby Storey.

MLAs passed a motion censuring party ministers after it was announced there would be no prosecutions.

Image source, Pacemaker

First Minister Arlene Foster said the wake and funeral procession were clear acts of "premeditated breaches of the Covid regulations".

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill - who was one of the Sinn Féin politicians who attended the funeral - apologised "for the hurt that has been caused to so many families who have lost a loved one".

Read more: Sinn Féin accused of 'arrogance and self entitlement'

BBC News NI

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne has expressed surprise at the conclusion by the Public Prosecution Service not to prosecute anyone in relation to their attendance at Bobby Storey's funeral.

Image source, PA Media

Mr Byrne said he recognised that the policing of the former IRA intelligence chief's funeral last June had caused outrage and damaged confidence in the PSNI.

He added: "The PPS draw their conclusions but this is what we're wrestling with now."

Read more: Police chief 'surprised' by PPS funeral decision

DUP MLA Trevor Clarke says he feels "sorry for the rank and file officers out on the street on a daily basis" as a result of the Bobby Storey funeral row.

He probes the senior officers about a paragraph in the PPS report which he says states that a Sinn Féin organiser told police that stewards would be in place outside Mr Storey's home to encourage social distancing, with police not needed in attendance.

Mr Clarke asks whether that "assurance" would guarantee no prosecutions if another similar-sized funeral was to take place again?

Image source, PA Media

It was estimated that 400 people would be outside the home and ACC Alan Alan Todd says there were people there "who shouldn't have been there".

"It wasn't a deal, it wasn't an arrangement," he adds. "We merely sought to understand what was happening so we could understand how we could respond to that."

Mr Todd says it would have taken time to make "an informed approach" in sending officers to the scene with crowds dispersing after a short period of time.

The Policing Board meeting draws to a close.

“I do not understand how people did not get what 'stay at home' meant," says the SDLP's Delores Kelly.

She asks whether the Sinn Féin funeral organisation plan included numbers of how many people would attend the funeral.

Image source, NI Policing Board

Chief Constable Simon Byrne says that based upon a risk assessment provided by organisers that number was 30.

About 2,000 people turned up to watch the funeral cortege.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne says the PSNI is "trying to make sense" of how its "legitimate engagement" in relation to the funeral, which he compares to police planning for events such as bonfires, has "put us in this situation".

He says police needed to get an understanding of how the funeral would play out in terms of Covid regulations as well as "public safety".

"That was not a deliberate attempt to give any community or any individuals a free pass at the regulations."

Image source, Pacemaker

Mr Byrne continues: "We are here to enforce and uphold the law.

"We went into this endeavour with an assumption that the independent investigator Mark Webster would follow the evidence and present his findings to the PPS, which is what he did, with a recommendation for prosecution.

"We find ourselves where we do but we are surprised at the outcome."

The Bobby Storey funeral was "an epic failure" and has moved Northern Ireland into a system of "two-tier justice", says the DUP's Joanne Bunting.

She asks the senior PSNI officers why the force did not ask if the funeral organisers were asking people to stay away from the event.

"It was our job to explain what we saw as the regulations and encourage people to comply with them," says ACC Alan Todd.

Image source, NI Policing Board

"We were making various assessments of what the likelihood of that compliance was but I didn't and I didn't want my team to get into something that could be portrayed for what it wasn't."

He says the PSNI's approach was to have consistent with engagement with the organisers.

Ms Bunting, an MLA for East Belfast, also asks if stewards and organisers of the funeral were assigned to a proscribed organisation.

Mr Todd says he "did not get into" investigating individuals, claiming it was not his job to do so.

Sinn Féin MLA Seán Lynch wants to know whether the PSNI can rescind fines issued to people involved in Black Lives Matter protests in Northern Ireland last year.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne says the force has received legal advice which states that it cannot cancel the fines.

Image source, Pacemaker

He tells the board: "Because the fines have gone into the court after the penalty notices were issued it would be a matter for individuals to either contest the allegation which they face or for the PPS if they thought a ticket had been issued inappropriately to withdraw it."

"I know there's differing opinions flying around in relation to this," he says.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd says a "plan" was sent to the PSNI by the funeral organisers, detailing the logistics of the day, which officers then looked at.

"It wasn't the basis for negotiation," he says.

Image source, NI Policing Board

The senior officer says he knew it was "always going to be a challenging funeral" with thousands of people expected to attend.

"We set our mind to what the tactical options were in respect of that," he says, "which was evidence gathering."

Simon Byrne says that following Bobby Storey's death there were a "fast-time dialogue" between the PSNI and Sinn Féin representatives regarding the arrangements for the funeral.

Describing it as a "series of short interactions", Mr Byrne says he "could have described that better" during an interview on BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show.

Image source, Pacemaker

Responding to a question from UUP MLA Mike Nesbitt, the chief constable says "the sense of horse-trading was probably what you heard from the word negotiation - I wasn't trying to imply that".

"I was trying to describe there was a fast-time dialogue just to understand what the funeral arrangements were so the commanders involved in that could make their risk assessments and prepare their plans and contingencies for that operation."

Chief Constable Simon Byrne says the PSNI "went into this endeavour with an intent to police the funeral in a sensitive but proportionate way, recognising there were risks".

"We went into this operation to gather evidence, which is what we did, in case there were breaches because there was always that very real prospect," he told the policing board.

"No one's pretending, to a certain degree if you like, we didn't see this coming."

"We are where we are now and obviously the PPS are reviewing their decision and who knows where they may conclude, and we have to wait [for] that too, but certainly speaking for myself and for the gold commander, if we had anticipated this is where we would have ended up we may have taken an entirely different approach."

John Blair of Alliance is up next.

The South Antrim MLA asks Mr Byrne if he will commit to a review of the PSNI engagement processes, which he hopes would be conducted in a way that "would identify any issues that are causing problems, and remove any future problems".

Image source, NI Policing Board

Simon Byrne says he welcomes the engagement of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) as an "independent body to come in and help us get an objective understanding of just what went on".

"Regardless of what HMIC find in a few weeks, what reflection we're able to do ourselves, clearly there are a number of issues at the heart of this," the chief constable says.

Image source, Pacemaker

"Firstly, everyone would have empathy with people who were unable to bury their loved ones in ways that we would traditionally expect.

"We have recognised from the outset, actually, how difficult policing funerals may have been."

Image source, NI Policing Board

First to pose a question this afternoon is DUP MLA Mervyn Storey.

He begins by listing a number of events during the pandemic where believes the PSNI took a different approach to policing. They include Black Lives Matter protests.

He says: "While my party leader has stated publicly what she believes should be the situation in regards to your position, will you take the opportunity to apologise to those many hundreds of families who were not afforded the privilege of police acquiescence or police assistance in the spirit of the letter of the law?

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne says he recognises that "events surrounding the policing of this funeral have caused outrage and have damaged confidence in policing".

"I am listening, but I am confident that my officers have acted with good intent and integrity, managing what was always going to be a sensitive policing operation," he told the policing board.

Image source, NI Policing Board

In his opening remarks, Mr Byrne said he wanted to "place on record" his "clear and unequivocal understanding about the sympathy we have for the hurt, concern and anger felt by so many people who complied with the health protection regulations over the last year".

Before taking questions, the chief constable stated: "The PPS themselves, not withstanding some of the public and political concern, found no evidence that deals were done in the run-up to this funeral."

Today's public meeting opens.

All attendees are appearing via video link including Stormont MLAs.

The Chief Constable Simon Byrne is up first.

Image source, NI Policing Board

Enda McClafferty
BBC News NI political editor

We've had some heated and passionate exchanges in the chamber, not least from those MLAs who've lost loved ones and friends during the pandemic and were unable to attend their funerals.

They had pointed remarks for both Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Conor Murphy, both of whom attended Bobby Storey's funeral last year.

Even before the debate started, Sinn Féin MLA and Speaker Alex Maskey was challenged for his impartiality, and that set the tone.

Ms O'Neill was challenged several times across the chamber floor to apologise for her attendance at the funeral.

She didn't do that, but she did say sorry for the hurt caused.

This is a non-binding debate which means there will be a vote in the chamber, but there will be no effect on Sinn Féin because this simply registers other MLAs' anger at what happened.

In the absence of a court case, it's another chance for MLAs to deliver their verdicts.

Ironically, ministers are likely to change the laws around funerals again with a recommendation to increase the numbers who can attend to 35.

It is easy to forget we are still plotting our pathway out of lockdown.

Those are the big decisions, for some, which will be made later.

No further deaths related to Covid-19 were reported on Thursday by the department of health, meaning its total remains at 2,115.

There were 107 more positive cases of the virus identified, bringing the overall tally during the pandemic to 117,396.

There are 17 patients being treated in intensive care, with 112 inpatients and nine requiring ventilation.

The department statistics show there are five active outbreaks registered at NI care homes.

To sum up today's proceedings in the chamber:

Sinn Féin has been accused of showing arrogance, self-entitlement and privilege over its actions in relation to the funeral of Bobby Storey.

MLAs passed a motion censuring party ministers after it was announced there would be no prosecutions.

The funeral in June 2020 attracted 2,000 mourners at a time when Covid restrictions were in place.

The actions of 24 Sinn Féin politicians were examined, including Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and Finance Minister Conor Murphy.

In the assembly today, the deputy first minister apologised "for the hurt that has been caused to so many families who have lost a loved one".

Read more here.