Ben Lowry: If Sinn Fein is allowed to do its own thing in office, then mandatory coalition can never work

In reality it is in power at Stormont and must always be – unless devolution is suspended for all (as it was for three years).

In the daily Stormont briefings, in which Michelle O’Neill has at times seemed half in, half out of office, she has intoned on how she endorses World Health Organisation where it diverges from UK, as if she is an authoritative voice.

It either does not occur to Sinn Fein’s assembly leader, or does not bother her, that such remarks are an implied insult to the Northern Ireland experts, such as the chief medical officer for NI, Dr Michael McBride, who are supremely professional and cannot answer back to any apparent criticism.

Dr McBride is not only CMO, he has directly relevant experience of infections, having become a consultant specialist in one of the worst pandemics, HIV, almost 30 years ago.

Other experts include Dr Alan Stout, chair of the British Medical Association GP committee in NI, who has for weeks calmly stated that the UK has some of the world’s best scientists, that the advice is good and should be followed.

When I tweeted recently about the UK’s outstanding scientific leaders, some people wondered if it was a sleight on the Irish experts. Yet I assume that the Republic has similar numbers pro rata of brilliant medical and scientific people to the UK, but the latter has almost 15 times more people and 15 times more experts.

Republicans have accused unionists of slavishly following British advice, when almost the opposite has happened: all the key figures in Northern Ireland’s response to the crisis support close co-operation with the Republic, as makes sense on an island, while republicans have obsessively promoted all-island responses, and trashed the overall UK approach.

The party wants a severe lockdown, closing manufacturers such as Ulster Carpets who say they are practising safe social distancing for employees, yet it delayed on granting powers to the PSNI (something on which republicans are hardly keen). NI was the last place in the UK to clarify what police could do.

Ms O’Neill is implying that the WHO and UK have an utterly diverging approach, when in fact they have largely the same approach with some differences.

It is not unreasonable for the deputy first minister, without expertise, to think that one group of scientists is right and another wrong. Lord Sumption, the ex Supreme Court judge (cited as a hero by some Irish nationalists when he denounced Boris Johnson’s parliamentary Brexit tactics) who said the UK Covid-19 response was hysterical (few nationalists cited that), pointed out that we are not ruled by scientists. We apply our own critical faculties to advice he said.

But what a coincidence that in applying such critical thinking, Sinn Fein cannot find a UK gesture that it likes, such as soldiers rapidly helping increase hospital beds for the patients for whom republicans profess such concern or the Treasury using its firepower to offer big support to business and citizens.

If Ms O’Neill and her party are so damning of the UK, it is strange that they never issued a critique of the records of early deliberations of Britain’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage). The war historian Sir Lawrence Freedman analysed them for the long respected, left leaning New Statesman journal. It showed how experts were agreed on some responses, but uncertain or divided on others.

The UK is now behind on tests but few nations have found it easy: the Republic set up community tests before retreating when it was swamped. Testing has been a problem for all but the most prepared places like South Korea (who were prepared because they had a bigger 2002 SARS scare than Europe).

The UK is badly behind on Personal Protection Equipment and ventilators, as are most nations.

But the WHO is not beyond criticism. Its response to the situation in China in January was at first confused and perhaps complacent and I suspect it is too trusting of the recent Chinese data of miniscule infection rates and death numbers.

WHO also seemed unable to answer easily this newspaper’s elementary query on whether global data distinguished between deaths of people who had the virus (but might have died of something else) and deaths caused by it (see link to our story below). Such a distinction is crucial to understanding the lethality of coronavirus.

The validity of some early UK concerns are becoming apparent, such as damage to mental health of starting lockdown too early (scolds who want even to close factories and city parks seem not to focus on the needs of those who suffer most, the low paid who might otherwise lose their job and people crammed into flats that lack even a balcony).

It is not surprising, or even wrong, that republicans saw first Brexit then Covid-19 as opportunity for a cherished, centuries old goal of a single independent Ireland.

What is wrong is that they have bought into an abnormal system of mandatory coalition (indeed present themselves as guardians of the 1998 deal that enshrined it), which can only work on the basis of collective responsibility (sharing in and defending hard decisions).

After Brexit, Sinn Fein cited RHI to collapse devolution but then made other demands for its return. Now they openly undermine cabinet colleagues, as Ms O’Neill did to the Health Minister Robin Swann on Thursday’s BBC The View.

When other parties challenge this and a row ensues some people blame ‘both sides’. But most people are not fooled as to what is going on.

No Irish government will ever call the party out. The question is whether the UK sovereign government one day might, and then move to make such abuse impossible.

• Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter deputy editor

WHO accepts difficulties teasing out true Covid-19 death rates

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