Coronavirus: Robin Swann pledges to clear up lockdown confusion

Health Minister Robin Swann called for an end to leaks from meetings

Confusion around Northern Ireland's coronavirus restrictions will be clarified on Thursday, Health Minister Robin Swann has said.

Ministers had been due to meet on Thursday, but that has been postponed due to two family funerals.

Changes to restrictions due to come into play on Friday and guidance on transfer tests are set to be discussed.

Mr Swann said confusion on outdoor gatherings would be "tidied up" on Thursday.

A further 17 coronavirus-related deaths were reported on Thursday in Northern Ireland, bringing the Department of Health's death toll to 1,417.

Another 1,410 people have tested positive for Covid-19.

Ministers were seeking to clarify detail of the new lockdown restrictions being introduced at midnight amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

• How Northern Ireland's new restrictions affect you

A stay-at-home order will become legally enforceable, meaning the PSNI will have powers to direct people home if they are engaged in prohibited activity.

Anyone caught being away from home without a reasonable excuse can be issued with a £200 fixed penalty notice or a fine of up to £5,000 if the case goes to court.

Mr Swann said public messaging about the rules was not being helped by leaks from executive meetings.

Northern Ireland's Chief Scientific Advisor, Prof Ian Young, said it was likely that in some areas as many as one person in 40 may currently have Covid-19.

Testing figures gave an under-representation of the true number of cases, he added, because many people with Covid were asymptomatic and not diagnosed.

Meeting delayed

There was some confusion on Wednesday night about the reasons for delaying an executive meeting scheduled for Thursday.

The justice and infrastructure ministers said they only became aware of the reasons for the postponement after the meeting was rescheduled.

On Wednesday evening Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon tweeted that she had written to the first and deputy first ministers asking them to reconsider, as parents and children "were waiting on clarity on the transfer test".

Justice Minister Naomi Long also suggested there had been little communication about why the meeting was delayed.

"Maybe if the First and Deputy First Minister had the courtesy to give other ministers a reason for the delay, this wouldn't have happened," she tweeted.

The executive is split over whether or not transfer tests should go ahead

On Wednesday night, Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said her condolences were with the two executive colleagues who were attending relatives' funerals on Thursday.

Sinn Féin said it would put the matter to a vote unless the DUP's education minister cancelled the test, but he insisted this was out of his remit. Peter Weir said this was in the hands of private bodies responsible for the tests.

First Minister Arlene Foster said: "Colleagues in other parties who want to use covid as an excuse to damage grammar schools and end academic selection.

"They are trying to use the executive to give them a platform to do that, and I simply am not going to allow that to happen."

Hybrid system

On Wednesday, all this year's GCSE, AS and A-level examinations in Northern Ireland were cancelled, although there is still confusion about transfer tests for primary school pupils.

On Tuesday news came initially that all transfer tests were cancelled in Northern Ireland. Hours later a single Association for Quality Education (AQE) transfer test was scheduled for 27 February.

The issue has split the main political parties at Stormont, who already take different views about the use of academic selection for grammar schools in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Féin, the SDLP and Alliance believe the process should be scrapped, but the DUP supports the current system.

Ulster Unionist MLA Robbie Butler has proposed a "hybrid system" for this year, suggesting pupils' scores from their best two mock papers and previous attainment records should be used as criteria by grammar schools.

Sinn Féin wants Mr Weir to use existing legislation to intervene and ensure the tests do not go ahead this year, but the minister has insisted he will not do that.

Mr Weir argued that without the test, there is no other "obvious solution" for ensuring academic selection continues this year, and accused those criticising him of trying to "scrap academic selection entirely".

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