Arlene Foster: 'Christmas will not be cancelled'
Last updated 7th Oct 2020
Arlene Foster has assured children across Northern Ireland that 'Santa Claus is coming to town.'
Speaking to Cool FM's Facebook show the First Minister said there was no way Christmas would not be celebrated this year.
Ms Foster took the opportunity to give that assurance to one youngster, eight-year-old Jacob from Larne, who had contacted her about his concerns Christmas might not happen this year because of the pandemic.
Her heart felt message to young Jacob was:
“I and my team have been in touch with Santa in Lapland, we’ve been working with their team.
“Of course, Santa has been working very hard to make sure Covid-19 doesn’t reach Lapland.
“He’s been taking all of the measures and making sure his reindeers are safe as well and he tells me he has a full schedule for Christmas Eve.
“He’s looking forward to visiting Northern Ireland, as he always does, because he tells me when he comes to Northern Ireland, he always receives lovely mince pies and lots of milk and carrots for his reindeers.
“So, I have no doubt that Santa is coming to Northern Ireland.”
The First Minister added that it was important people are able to celebrate Christmas as they always do.
“It's a wonderful time of course for those of us who are Christians to celebrate but generally it's so important that families can come together and be together at that time," she said.
"So I understand all the worries many, many families have, but it is so important that we celebrate Christmas as we always do in Northern Ireland, in a very meaningful way.
"And I'm very much looking forward to Christmas.''
Her comments came after chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride said the region would experience a very different'' Christmas this year because of Covid-19 restrictions.
Dr McBride raised the prospect of even tighter measures being in place during the festive period than there are currently.
Earlier, Dr McBride and Chief scientific Adviser Professor Ian Young predicted that the Executive would factor in the societal benefits of family get-togethers at Christmas when weighing up any future decisions on restrictions that might apply.
I think it's fair to say that Christmas will be very different from previous years, because we will still have many of the restrictions in place that we currently have, if not all, and indeed there may be further restrictions in place at that time,'' said Dr McBride.
He added: The Executive will wish to consider this very, very carefully and be mindful of the societal benefits of us coming together more over the Christmas period, insofar as that can be achieved safely.''
Prof Young said: I think Christmas is a really good example of a time when the societal benefits of allowing more interaction will be much greater than other times of the year.
While I think it's likely that there may still need to be some restrictions in place at Christmas, I'm sure that we would wish to allow as much interaction as is possible safely at Christmas and allow as normal a Christmas that can be achieved in the context of a very serious global epidemic.''