Covid families meet Emma Little-Pengelly in bid to influence policy

Families bereaved by Covid-19 in Northern Ireland have expressed hope they can influence public policy.

Members of the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice NI group met deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly at Parliament Buildings in Belfast on Monday afternoon.

The families had previously accused Stormont’s leaders of ignoring them and failing to meet them before formulating and publishing the Executive’s formal response to the first phase of the UK-wide inquiry into the pandemic.

Brenda Doherty, whose mother Ruth died in the pandemic, said it was a “productive meeting”, but expressed regret that First Minister Michelle O’Neill had been unwell and was unable to attend.

“We have had a guarantee she will meet us again in future, and we will certainly hold her to that,” she said.

“We are coming away feeling that we were heard today. The proof will be in the pudding but they know that we are not going away anywhere and if we don’t see active engagement with us, we will be back again.”

Martina Ferguson, whose mother Ursula died in the pandemic, said she discussed some of the recommendations, adding the group felt they lacked detail, and asked for further information, particularly around the civil contingencies structure in Northern Ireland.

“I specifically asked for the First Minister and deputy First Minister to initiate legislation around the care partner guidance because we were totally failed during the pandemic, and we have asked for that to extend to end of life,” she said.

“We have got a commitment to engage, and that is what we’ll do.”

Ms Doherty added: “We see this as the start of a partnership. We’re going to be working alongside senior civil servants. That was only the module one report, there are going to be another nine to follow.

“We want engagement either before or when the report is issued to look at how they’re going to act upon the recommendations.”

Ms Little-Pengelly also spoke to the media after the meeting, and thanked the families for taking part.

“I want to pay tribute to the incredible work that they have done over a sustained period of time, not just to fight for recognition and justice for their loved ones, but of course to try and improve processes,” she said.

“I made a promise to those families today, that promise is that we will listen to them, that we will engage with them and, of course importantly, that we will be implementing these recommendations in a way that is fit for purpose in Northern Ireland.

“But most of all, that we will be doing everything in our power to significantly improve the processes that we have, the planning that we do in order to protect lives moving forward.”