Michelle O’Neill defends undated roadmap out of lockdown
The plan was unveiled yesterday
Last updated 3rd Mar 2021
The Deputy First Minister is defending the Executive’s decision not to include dates on Northern Ireland’s roadmap out of lockdown.
The phased plan which was published yesterday has been criticised for not coming with a timeline.
Ministers say any decision to lift restrictions will be “data-driven", meaning progress is subject to things such as hospital admissions, the ‘R’ number, and the emergence of new variants.
Speaking on Downtown/Cool FM’s Facebook show last night, Michelle O’Neill said,
“I just don’t want to give false hope. I think it’s dishonest to say to people – ‘you’ll be opening up on such a date’ - when we know rightly at this point in time I can’t stand over that.
“There are new variants at play and they’re spreading faster”.
The Sinn Fein Deputy Leader was questioned on why England’s roadmap has a timeline and Northern Ireland’s doesn’t.
She said, “We think that the plan we have set out is flexible”.
“It’s not driven by dates per-se as has been done in England for example, where they’ve given definitive dates for things”
“I think that’s wrong for this reason; it builds peoples hopes and expectations up that things are going to open on a certain date, when things are still too uncertain. It’s too difficult to give that commitment right now.”
You can watch the full interview on the Cool FM News Facebook page.