Coronavirus: What happens if Stormont ministers are incapacitated?

A question which once would have seemed esoteric is now of potentially pressing importance.

On Friday it was announced that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock had tested positive for Covid-19, while the Chief Medical Officer for England, Chris Whitty, had developed symptoms of the condition and was self-isolating.

All three continue to exhibit mild symptoms and are continuing to be involved in the UK response to the pandemic.

However, prior to last week’s announcement there had been clarity as to what would happen if the prime minister becomes seriously ill. Downing Street made clear that in those circumstances the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who as first secretary of state is de facto deputy prime minister, would take over.

Yet the Executive has been less forthcoming about the issue than Westminster. When asked by the News Letter what would happen if a minister takes seriously ill, The Executive Office appeared to indicate that a seriously ill minister would be replaced by their party.

Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill’s department said: “Contingency arrangements exist to deal with circumstances where ministers might not be able to participate directly in Executive business.

“These already include temporary arrangements such as remote participation in Executive meetings. There are also provisions in the Northern Ireland Act which enable parties to replace their ministers where they are unable to fulfil their duties because of illness.”

There is precedent for devolved ministers temporarily acting up. Three ministers have each covered more than one department – the UUP’s Reg Empey served as acting first mnister for four months in 2001, Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd served as acting deputy first minister in 2011 and Arlene Foster was acting first minister in 2010 and again in 2015.

But in each case those parties had other ministers who could step up. However, the UUP Health Minister Robin Swann – now the key minister in fighting the pandemic – is his party’s only minister.

When asked what would happen if he was seriously ill, a UUP spokesman simply said that the seat would be “held by an Ulster Unionist”.

That alludes to leader Steve Aiken’s ability to remove Mr Swann and replace him with a colleague. However, the party declined to say whether it was preparing another MLA has a nominated successor to Mr Swann so that if he suddenly became ill in the midst of the crisis his successor would not be parachuted in without critical knowledge of the situation.

Northern Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride, would be succeeded by his deputy if he was incapacitated and the Department of Health Permanent Secretary Richard Pengelly would be succeeded by a deputy secretary within his department.