Finance Minister Conor Murphy won’t explain why he’s not self-isolating for 14 days as he said he would do

On October 22, the Sinn Fein minister tweeted to say: “A close family member tested positive for Covid 19. I currently have no symptoms. I will be testing and working from home for the next 14 days.”

At the time the Sinn Féin deputy First Minister, Michelle O’Neill and the Communities Minister, Caral Ni Chuilin, were also self-isolating.

All three ministers – as well as UUP Health Minister Robin Swann – continued to work remotely without any apparently significant difficulties.

However, on Sunday afternoon – ten days after his first message – Mr Murphy tweeted to say: “On the advice of the Public Health Agency and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer my period of self-isolation ends today. I will return to the Assembly tomorrow to move the Budget Bill.”

The News Letter asked Mr Murphy’s department why he had not self-isolated for 14 days as he had initially said would happen and whether he had received preferential treatment from the deputy chief medical officer and the Public Health Agency in being able to access bespoke advice from senior figures due to his status as a minister.

In a statement, the Department of Finance would only say: “The Finance Minister is satisfied that following public health advice he self-isolated for the necessary period of time given the timing of his exposure to the virus.”

When contacted by the News Letter, neither of the health bodies cited by Mr Murphy would discuss his individual case but both highlighted the need for a 14-day period of self-isolation.

The Department of Health said: “Our advice to all close contacts of confirmed cases is the same – self isolate for 14 days from exposure or 14 days from receipt of a notification from the app.”

The Public Health Agency said: “Due to patient confidentiality the Public Health Agency (PHA) does not comment on individual cases.

“Individuals identified as a close contact will be asked to self-isolate for 14 days from the last date they were in contact with the confirmed case. It’s really important they do this even if they don’t feel unwell.

“Close contacts will also be asked to continue to self-isolate if they have been identified as a close contact of a confirmed case even if they have received a negative test result, because it can take up to 14 days for the symptoms of infection to develop. This will be crucial to avoid unknowingly spreading the virus to others.

“Information for everyone in Northern Ireland is available on the PHA’s website www.pha.site/coronavirus alternatively individuals can contact the NHS 111 helpline.”

Mr Murphy was among multiple senior Sinn Féin figures who attended the funeral of IRA commander Bobby Storey, a massive event attended by thousands of people and during which there were multiple breaches of public health advice.

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