NI’s Covid response hampered by lack of government, report finds

Delivering the report, Baroness Hallett said the UK was “ill-prepared” to respond to a pandemic.

“There were serious errors on the part of the state and serious flaws in our civil emergency systems,” she said.

“This cannot be allowed to happen again.”

Referring to Northern Ireland in Thursday’s report, she said: “The constitutional arrangements in Northern Ireland do not lend themselves to The Executive Office directing the work of other departments, and it is beyond this inquiry’s remit to recommend changes to those arrangements.

“However, the overall aim of maintaining a complete overview of pandemic preparedness applies equally in Northern Ireland as in the rest of the UK.”

She said while the Civil Contingencies Group and Department of Health were in charge of the pandemic response, there were “a number of other groups, sub-groups, tiers and sub-tiers, as well as re-organisations and re-brandings”.

“As a result, the system in Northern Ireland had become unduly complex,” said the chair.