By 13 October, Ms Dobbin says, after lockdown measures had been lifted in the summer, it was recommended that there should be a six-week period of significant restrictions.

A four-week “circuit breaker” was introduced and a “critical point came during discussions over whether this should be extended for a further two weeks".

She says of executive meetings on 9,10,11 and 12 of November 2020: "I think it’s really here that we see perhaps the most difficult point in executive committee decision-making in response to the pandemic."

She said Economy Minister Diane Dodds said she was distraught with the tone of the meetings and comments recorded from them include that "this is about theatrics" and that while "only Covid deaths matter to the SDLP all deaths matter to me".

Image source, PA Media

WhatsApp messages have been sought after by the Covid Inquiry.

Today, Ms Dobbin says that they were "extremely important" and says she asked all permanent secretaries to make sure WhatsApp messages and important documents were not deleted "at an early stage" in the inquiry.

This message was to be passed on to relevant offices and departments.

Ms Dobbin says the first and deputy first ministers' office did not receive this message from the inquiry.

Ms Dobbin said Baroness Foster, who was the first minister during the early stages of the pandemic, handed her work phone to The Executive Office (TEO) and it was "reset and wiped by IT assist deleting the data".

Baroness Foster had "kept her Ipad - and periodically deleted messages on WhatsApp".

Michelle O'Neill, the then deputy first minister's phone was reset, and subsequently wiped but this was completed by TEO's IT department.

Robin Swann, then health minister, had a laptop that the department kept in a secure space in case it was ever needed as evidence - therefore the health department was aware of the message from the inquiry.

Image source, Getty Images

The inquiry is told it was only on 18 March 2020 that central contingency measures were implemented in Northern Ireland.

On that date, the first Covid-related death in NI occurred.

Ms Dobbin asks why measures were implemented "so late in the day".

"Was it because ministers were blinkered into seeing Covid-19 as a health issue and simply did not give thought for the need for a muscular, ministerially-sponsored, cross-departmental approach at a very early stage?" she asks.

Image source, Pacemaker

Ms Dobbin discusses a specific date - 30 June 2020.

It was the day when the then deputy first minister, Michelle O'Neill, and then finance minister Conor Murphy (both members of Sinn Féin) attended the funeral of republican Bobby Storey.

Storey spent more than 20 years in jail, beginning with internment without trial when he was 17, a year after he joined the IRA in 1972.

He was latterly the northern chairman of Sinn Féin.

There were claims that the Sinn Féin members broke coronavirus guidelines by attending the funeral.

A decision was later made by the Public Prosecution Service not to prosecute anyone.

"It appears that that incident was to prove damaging to executive committee relations," she says.

"One sees that the decision not to prosecute was over the lack of clarity of regulations and the policing approach - that issue as to unclear regulations - and making them unenforceable - raises issues."

She adds that the funeral raises multiple questions, for example, that other people were unable to have the funeral they would have wanted, and she asks: "Was damage done to public confidence as a result?"

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On 16 March, Ms Dobbin KC, says, an executive meeting was held on a day when there were 45 Covid cases in Northern Ireland and evidence of community transmission.

The deputy first minister was recorded as saying that they had "lost control two weeks ago" and people were making their own decisions, while the communities minister said that people were terrified.

The justice minister said the executive "always seemed to be reacting, not leading", while the Department of Health said they had been preparing for the pandemic for the last seven weeks.

A WhatsApp message the following day from the head of civil service, Sir David Sterling, described the meeting as “excruciating, with no leadership on display at all".

Image source, Reuters

Ms Dobbin KC says that on 10 March a briefing suggests at that stage there was no government advice to cancel large events, but rather that the organisers of events such as St Patrick’s Day had taken the decision to cancel by themselves.

She said if Northern Ireland avoided large super-spreader events it may have been because of the actions of organisers not the government in Northern Ireland.

On 11 March the Republic of Ireland announced measures including the closure of schools.

The next day, the head of the civil service met the first and deputy first ministers and said there was no medical or scientific evidence to support the measures announced in the Republic.

The health minister and chief medical officer joined the meeting and said containment measures were working in Northern Ireland and following what the Republic had done would crash the NHS and cause unnecessary panic and fear.

Ms Dobbin KC says that communication between The Executive Office and the first and deputy first ministers in March 2020 raise "an obvious question whether there was a significant under-estimation of the speed and scale of what was unfolding.

"There’s very little sense in the communications of any urgency about the need to plan and respond within the executive committee," she said.

She also says that in January 2020 an official who was a member of a pandemic flu sub group said Northern Ireland was more than 18 months behind the rest of the UK in terms of ensuring sector resilience to the pandemic outbreak.

In February 2020 there was an indication from an official at the Department of Health that contingency arrangements wouldn’t kick in until such time as the virus arrived in Northern Ireland, she adds.

The opening statements are continuing in the Covid inquiry in Belfast. Clair Dobbin, KC, is on her feet again.

One area that will be explored at the inquiry this week will be Covid deaths and excess deaths - with discussion around whether they were connected.

Covid deaths - deaths with Covid-19 on the death certificate.

Excess deaths - the number of deaths above what would normally be expected.

Image source, Reuters

Here's a reminder of the timeline from the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland:

• 27 February 2020: Northern Ireland diagnoses first coronavirus case

• 19 March 2020: the first Covid-19 death confirmed by the Department of Health
• 23 March 2020: First national lockdown announced
• 28 March 2020: The NI Executive agrees new powers to combat the spread of coronavirus including fines of up to £5,000 for breach of lockdown restrictions
• 12 May 2020: NI Executive publishes plan for easing lockdown
• 20 June 2020: No new cases in NI for first time since lockdown
• 3 July 2020: Bars, restaurants, cafes and hotels reopen in NI
• 10 August 2020: Wearing masks in shops and public places becomes compulsory
• 13 August 2020: Schools given new guidance for reopening

There is now a short break as lead counsel has finished her opening comments

Image source, Reuters

Clair Dobbin, KC, tells the inquiry that the precarious nature of local politics and the legacy of mistrust led to a siloing of decision making.

Speaking about the political backdrop here during Covid-19 pandemic, she said it had "proved fragile" and as a result "that forms an inevitable part of the background to the functioning of the executive committee in January 2020".

The power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland was restored in January 2020 after a three-year hiatus.

The first Covid lockdown took place on 23 March, about a month after the first case was confirmed in Northern Ireland.

Ministers had been brought together "for the first time" says Ms Dobbin who adds they had a lot of work to do that had built up during the executive's suspension, including looking at changes such as Brexit.

"The fragility of arrangements impacts on the roles of those making decisions".

She goes on to say the fact ministers were "in opposition" led to them becoming "compartmented" in holding "collective responsibility".

Ms Dobbin is speaking about those that lost loved ones and how it impacted on them.

"The loss of someone that they love and cared for was compounded by the circumstances in which they became ill.

"We know there were people who were confused and frightened in those circumstances - families desperately concerned," she adds.

She goes on to mention those involved in the film and how it showed that families "could not give them the remembrance" that "they deserved."

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), which collates deaths in Northern Ireland, looked at the numbers of Covid deaths.

It says the numbers of people whose death certificate mentioned Covid 19, was 4,254.

That covers the period between 11 January 2020 to 15 February 2022 when domestic restrictions were lifted.

NISRA confirmed to BBC News NI that Covid-related deaths did not surpass the 5,000 mark until the end of 2022.

Speaking about how Covid-19 affected Northern Ireland, Clair Dobbin KC said "the threat of Covid-19 was not universal - it did not fall equally on people".

"In Northern Ireland - Covid-19 discriminated".

She added that decision making was difficult and that "calculus is not necessarily a straight forward one."

But said Northern Ireland faired "52nd position worldwide" for Covid-19 deaths.

Clair Dobbin KC is Counsel to the Inquiry. She is currently speaking.

She named those representing the different groups and people that will be speaking and answering questions over the coming days.

Ms Dobbin continues by thanking those involved in preparing the inquiry.

"It's been a collective effort. The combined efforts of all those that appear before you.

"I thank you for the enormous care that has come into the preparations."

She goes on to state that Northern Ireland is "geographically disconnected" from the rest of the UK and it is "fitting" that it is the last nation to hold the inquiry.

This morning, amid the rain in Belfast, families who lost loved ones to Covid spoke to reporters ahead of the first sitting of the Covid Inquiry in Northern Ireland.

Some of them were visibly distressed.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Pacemaker

Image source, Pacemaker

Many families in Northern Ireland have felt the pain of losing a loved one during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry spoke to some of those from here affected as they ask for answers.

This is an extract of a 20-minute video produced by the inquiry and was shown at the beginning of today's proceedings.

The inquiry has previously held hearings on the UK’s preparedness for the Covid-19 pandemic.

These were designed to assesses if the pandemic was properly planned for and whether the UK was adequately ready for Covid-19.

During that section, health officials argued Northern Ireland's preparedness was undermined by the lack of a functioning executive from January 2017 to January 2020.

Image source, PA

Former Stormont first minister Baroness Foster told the inquiry that the UK government should have stepped in to make decisions in the absence of ministers at Stormont.

Michelle O’Neill said that austerity had been detrimental to all public services and it harmed the health department's ability to be resilient when faced with a pandemic.

Both will give evidence to the inquiry in the coming weeks.

Sara Girvin
BBC News Ireland Correspondent

Members of Bereaved Families for Justice NI said they hoped lasting change will come from their testimony to the Covid Inquiry.

Lauren Mallon's uncle Raymond McAleese, who had Down's syndrome, was 52 when he died.

"For him to die in the way that he did - it was traumatic for him, most harrowingly, but also traumatic for us as a family," she said.

"He was just the most joyful soul and such a character. He brought so much life into all of our family.

"He was at the centre of our family life. When I was younger I was always putting on videos for him, and he loved cans of Coke.

"He was pure joy and pure light, and knowing him was the privilege of my life."

Read full story here.