Arlene Foster tells public: Don’t set your standards on Covid-19 by what Michelle O’Neill does

Following a day of open warfare between the first minister and Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill, Mrs Foster said she understood the frustration of law-abiding people at the deputy first minister‘s repeated denials that she ever breached the public health guidelines.

Ms O’Neill is understood to be one of 24 people referred to the PPS over the Bobby Storey funeral in June – at a time when there was a ban on large gatherings.

Despite being photographed at the funeral, and posing for close proximity photographs with supporters afterwards, Ms O’Neill told RTE yesterday that she had “never deviated from the public health advice,” and that it was the DUP that has “worked against the entire public health team”.

Speaking to the News Letter, Mrs Foster said that while the “utterances” of her partner in government “are not taken seriously by many people,” it is important to set a good example.

“The compliance...was excellent prior to the Storey funeral but that flagrant breach was a seminal moment,” Mrs Foster said.

“People started to get very frustrated and took a much more caviller approach to the rules.

“I urge people today, don’t set your standard by what Michelle O’Neill does. Set your standard by what is best for your vulnerable neighbours and friends.”

Mrs Foster said: “My focus is on getting Northern Ireland out the other side of this pandemic with as few wounds as possible. We want to protect lives and livelihoods. With the vaccine’s arrival, we can see a route out, but it will take one final push over Christmas and the New Year to help our hospitals manage.

“Michelle O’Neill’s RTE radio attack on the DUP wasn’t surprising. Probably an attempt to distract from the police action against Sinn Fein.

“As a file is sent to the PPS about the actions of the deputy first minister, I accept that her utterances about restrictions are not taken seriously by many people in Northern Ireland. I understand why law-abiding people get frustrated that they comply with every element of restrictions, yet Sinn Fein behaved as though they were above the law.”

During a brief press conference following a virtual meeting of the North South Ministerial Council yesterday, Ms O’Neill invited to clarify her comments around possible breaches of the Covid regulations.

She said: “In terms of following the public health, I said I had never deviated from the advice given to us by the Chief Medical Officer and public health team in relation to proposals they have made about how we respond to Covid.”

Mrs Foster later told the News Letter she believes public compliance was “excellent” prior to the Storey funeral, describing the Sinn Fein-orchestrated mass gathering as a “seminal moment”.

Mrs Foster added: “With many businesses and organisations closed by these restrictions, we have sought to keep children in education and also enable people to attend their church.

“Children are already behind in school and we can’t allow that situation to get worse. I also appreciate the responsible way churches have handled this pandemic and I’m glad that with strict rules, they have been able to stay open.

“For those who have to close, I have urged the finance minister to allocate money and get adequate support in place. I welcome the continuation of the furlough scheme. It will be a life saver for many but it is important that the NI Executive roles out support packages too.”

Ulster Unionist MLA and the party’s health spokesperson, Alan Chambers, accused Sinn Fein of displaying “brass neck hypocrisy” and added: “Sinn Fein are all over the place as they continue to try to play politics with the pandemic. Michelle O’Neill has singled out one party as working against the public health team and rest of the Executive, while on Thursday Pat Sheehan said at Stormont`s health committee that, ‘it wasn’t about this party has a view, or that party has a view in the Executive’ before laying into the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser.

“Sinn Fein are all over the place as they continue to try to play politics with the pandemic. Given Sinn Féin’s role in hugely undermining the public health advice in June by breaking coronavirus regulations at the Storey funeral, they would be as well to let the health minister and his team get on with their jobs”.

TUV representative John Brennan said Ms O’Neill’s claim, never to have deviated from the public health advice, was “nothing short of a kick in the teeth” for the NI public.

“The law at the time of the Storey funeral prevented people from attending the funerals of their friends,” he said.

“The guidance to this day still insists on social distancing. Yet O’Neill attended the funeral of a convicted IRA terrorist and then posed for selfies in a graveyard where a political rally, not a burial, was taking place.

“Last night (Thursday) the deputy first minister announced lockdown measures which will impact everyone else yet she refuses to face up to her own actions. As far as she is concerned it is a case of do as I say, not as I do,” Mr Brennan added.

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