Covid Inquiry: leaks to media during pandemic were common according to Robin Swann

Health Minister Robin Swann said today (Monday) that leaks to the media from meetings of the Stormont Executive during the pandemic were so common that it was like a "live feed".

Mr Swann, who was appearing at the latest hearing of the UK Covid Inquiry, sitting in Belfast, said he believed some ministers were constrained from acting outside of party interests due to constant leaks to the media.

And he added that it became so endemic it was "tolerated rather than challenged".

Mr Swann also told the inquiry, sitting in Belfast, that he believed that, as the sole Ulster Unionist minister at the height of the pandemic, he was able to act in the interests of Northern Ireland, while the larger parties were focused on Dublin and Westminster.

The current inquiry module is assessing Northern Ireland's handling of the Covid emergency.

Mr Swann took up the position of health minister when the Stormont powersharing Executive returned in January 2020, following a three-year suspension, just as concerns about the spread of Covid were growing.

Lead counsel Clair Dobbin asked the minister if being the sole minister from his party had an impact.

Mr Swann said it was a "challenging position".

But he added: "I actually think entering the pandemic it was a strength.

"I didn't hold either a leadership position within my party at the point I took up minister so I wasn't bound by the constraints of having to answer to party political pressures from outside.

"Being the sole minister in there allowed me to step outside some of the constitutional challenges that faced the two larger parties where at times they could have seen to be more antagonistic, especially in regards to where they looked for their ultimate direction.

"Sinn Fein did take a look and keep an eye on what was happening in the Republic of Ireland and, likewise, the DUP were focused on what was happening in Westminster.

"Whereas being bound by neither of those I believe I was able to take a direction which best suited the response in Northern Ireland."

Ms Dobbin asked Mr Swann if he believed his ministerial colleagues were under political pressure external to being in the Executive.

He said: "I do believe that in regards to ministers coming from those bigger parties, those bigger groupings had to look to party structures and party guidance.

"Other ministers holding party leadership positions had to be conscious of what was going on elsewhere which I felt I was unencumbered by that."

Ms Dobbin then turned to the issue of Executive papers containing recommendations on Covid regulations being leaked to the media in 2020.

Mr Swann said: "It was one of my largest frustrations in regards to how Executive papers were handled, how they were leaked, when they were leaked because I often felt it was actually deliberate in regards to either conditioning what the conversation was going to be had at the Executive.

"When those papers were shared with Executive colleagues, often late on the night before, they were already with the media before the Executive had actually met to discuss them so there was already a narrative established in the media to either support or mostly undermine the recommendations that were coming."

He added: "What could have been robust meetings confidentially had around an Executive table... people were already being driven into sides or silos or in support of their stakeholders prior to being able to have the wider conversation or actually receive the presentations or the evidence that was actually coming from the CMO (chief medical officer) or the CSA (chief scientific adviser) as to why those decisions were being asked for or recommended."

Ms Dobbin then asked about leaks that took place while Executive meetings were going on.

The minister said: "At times there was almost a live feed coming from the Executive, especially when it came to those more challenging, more robust decisions that would have to be taken, it was being portrayed live-time on Twitter in regards to who had said what, who was saying what.