Stormont’s response to Covid was ‘chaotic’
JOHN BRESLIN, Irish News, November 21st, 2025
Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill were first and deputy first minister respectively during the Covid-19 pandemic
DECISION making over Covid-19 in Northern Ireland was “chaotic” during the second wave in later 2020 as meetings of the executive were “deeply divided” along political lines, a scathing report into the response to the pandemic has concluded.
Then Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s attendance at the funeral of veteran republican Bobby Storey contributed to tensions, the report found.
But First Minister Arlene Foster instigated cross-community votes to make “political points”, Baroness Heather Haslett found in her second report on the pandemic.
Baroness Haslett broke down the responses of the different governments, with a low point in the north in November 2020, during a “circuit breaker” period of increased restrictions ahead of a second full lock down in December of that year.
Executive had ‘deep divisions’ in pandemic.
“The four-day Executive Committee meeting from 9 to 12 November 2020 represented a low point in Northern Ireland politics during the pandemic,” the report stated.
“Notwithstanding the imposition of circuit breaker restrictions, the decision-making in Northern Ireland was chaotic. Despite having been advised that a six-week intervention was required, the Northern Ireland Executive Committee opted for a four-week circuit breaker, which commenced on 16 October 2020.”
This ultimately proved inadequate, but the executive meetings “were deeply divided along political lines and beset by leaks, leading to an incoherent approach in which the circuit breaker restrictions were extended for one week, then lapsed for one week, before being reintroduced for two further weeks”. Baroness Haslett concluded the one-week lapse in restrictions correlated with a 25% increase in cases.
Storey funeral and failure to apologise heightened tensions
Ms O’Neill’s attendance at the Storey funeral during the summer, and failure to apologise, contributed to tensions.
But the report also concluded: “The confidentiality of discussions was undermined by leaks and there was inappropriate instigation of cross-community votes to make political points” by Ms Foster.
All four of the UK jurisdictions were unprepared to deal with the pandemic while chaos at the heart of the UK government cost 23,000 lives in England alone during the first wave, the public inquiry has concluded.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson presided over a “toxic” culture in Number 10 and regularly changed his mind, while cabinet members including Health Secretary Matt Hancock plus key scientists all failed to act with the urgency needed to tackle the virus.
The response across the UK was “a repeated case of too little, too late”, while the “devolved administrations were too reliant on the UK government to lead the response”.
“The lack of urgency on the part of all four governments, and the failure to take more immediate emergency steps, are inexcusable,” the report stated.
It noted that in both the north and Scotland, Covid-19 was only discussed under “any other business” in meetings as late as February 2020.
The report said: “It should have been equally apparent to the First Ministers and Deputy First Ministers of the devolved administrations that, by this point, Covid-19 was the most pressing issue facing their governments.”
“In Northern Ireland, the power sharing arrangements weakened the ability of the executive to respond, and decision making by the Northern Ireland Executive itself was marred by political disputes,” she added.
“The relationships between ministers in Northern Ireland was poor. This kind of culture is detrimental to good decision-making.”
The north’s devolved structures offered an opportunity to show decisions were being made “by all parties collectively for the greater good”.
Decisions marred by rows between DUP and Sinn Fein
However, on “multiple occasions” decision-making was “marred by political disputes between Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin ministers”.
In the north, the period before the first cases were identified coincided with the re-establishment of power-sharing “and there was little by way of government activity in relation to Covid-19”.
It was noted as early as the start of January lack of work on preparedness “has resulted in Northern Ireland being more than 18 months behind the rest of the United Kingdom in terms of ensuring sector resilience to any pandemic flu outbreak”.
Further, there was no cross-government strategy in January and February 2020. This period coincided with the restoration of power-sharing and there was little meaningful, cross-governmental coordination in relation to Covid-19.
The power-sharing structure itself, with each department given “a significant degree of operational independence” weakened the ability to “coordinate the pandemic response and there was no one sufficiently empowered to hold departments to account”.
“Specific recommendations are made in relation to the arrangements in Northern Ireland to avoid a potential vacuum of decision-making powers, should an emergency occur during a period where power-sharing arrangements are suspended,” the report stated.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill described the report as an “important milestone in the long journey of recovery after the pain and trauma of the Covid pandemic”.
“Covid was an unprecedented global emergency and this report will provide further lessons from the experience at all levels of society,” Ms O’Neill added.
“Those lessons must inform our preparedness for, and response to, any future pandemic or society-wide emergency in the future.”
NI Executive under fire for 'incoherent approach' during Covid pandemic
LIAM TUNNEY, Belfast Telegraph, November 21st, 2025
STOREY FUNERAL 'DAMAGED CONFIDENCE' IN STORMONT
The coronavirus pandemic exposed how the system of government at Stormont "is not compatible” with managing a major crisis, the Covid Inquiry has found.
Compiled by Baroness Heather Hallett, chair of the Inquiry, the report is scathing of the Executive's “incoherent approach” as the pandemic unfolded, blaming DUP and Sinn Fein ministers for putting party interests ahead of public safety.
The Northern Ireland Executive “failed to appreciate the gravity” of the Coronavirus pandemic and was ill-prepared to respond to the emergency, the report found.
But it also said that at “certain critical points in the pandemic”, ministers from the two main political parties “failed to put the common interest of all people in Northern Ireland above their party political interests”.
The report published on Thursday focused on core decision making and political governance during the pandemic, when approximately 208,000 deaths were linked to the virus.
The Executive had just been restored in January 2020, something the report said had contributed to its ill-preparedness.
"As a result, decision-making structures in Northern Ireland for responding to a nationwide emergency had seriously atrophied,” said the report.
1st and 2nd Ministers had no authority to direct other Departments
Within the governance structure, the First and Deputy First Ministers had no authority to direct the other departments, nor could the head of the Civil Service direct other departments' permanent secretaries.
She must bear responsibility for this and for her failure to apologise earlier for her attendance
"For example, when Northern Ireland moved to set up a hub as part of its civil contingency response to the pandemic, only 2 of 85 civil servants who had been trained volunteered to staff the hub,” said the report.
"Even the Head of the Civil Service could not insist that people move to work in this area. This was a fault line.”
The report singled out the fallout after senior Sinn Féin figures - including then-Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill - attended the funeral of senior IRA man Bobby Storey at a point when restrictions were in place.
Michelle O'Neill's attendance at Bobby Storey's funeral damaged confidence in the Executive, the report found It said Ms O'Neill's original failure to apologise for the incident had damaged confidence in the Executive's response.
"When Ms O'Neill appeared before the Inquiry, she accepted that, with the benefit of hindsight, she should not have attended the funeral of Bobby Storey,” said the report.
"She acknowledged that this contributed to tensions within the Executive Committee and damaged confidence in the response to the pandemic in Northern Ireland.
"She must bear responsibility for this and for her failure to apologise earlier for her attendance.
"It is highly regrettable that joint press conferences were suspended during this period and that she and Ms Foster were unable to resolve the impasse between them in the interests of Northern Ireland.”
There was inappropriate instigation of cross-community votes to make political points.
The report also found then-First Minister Arlene Foster had used a cross-community safeguard to make political points.
"The four-day Executive Committee meeting from 9 to 12 November 2020 represented a low point in Northern Ireland politics during the pandemic,” it said. One person dead as light aircraft crashes at Irish airport Fans eye an upset as Northern Ireland handed tough Italian job in play-offs for World Cup: 'A chance to redeem ourselves' "The confidentiality of discussions was undermined by leaks and there was inappropriate instigation of cross-community votes to make political points by the First Minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster.”
Chaotic decision making
The decision-making process at Stormont was also branded “chaotic” by the report in relation to a discussion over a so-called 'circuit-breaker' intervention as cases rose sharply in Autumn 2020.
"Despite having been advised that a six-week intervention was required, the Northern Ireland Executive Committee opted for a four-week circuit breaker, which commenced on 16 October 2020,” said the report.
"This ultimately proved inadequate. In the weeks that followed, Executive Committee meetings were deeply divided along political lines and beset by leaks, leading to an incoherent approach in which the circuit breaker restrictions were extended for one week, then lapsed for one week, before being reintroduced for two further weeks - with the one-week lapse in restrictions correlating with a 25% increase in cases.”Baroness Foster appearing before the Inquiry A departmental silo mentality also came under fire from the report. It noted some ministers from the smaller parties were left feeling isolated during discussions.
"Naomi Long MLA had the impression throughout the pandemic that discussions that occurred before Executive Committee meetings between civil servants, the First Minister, the deputy First Minister and the Minister of Health were negotiations for the ministers to come to an agreed position,” it said.
"This made it difficult to seek detailed advice from officials prior to Executive Committee meetings.
"Given that each minister on the Executive Committee bore part of the overall responsibility for those matters they were asked to decide on, no ministers should have felt that they were excluded or deprived of their ability to properly scrutinise the decisions being made.
Covid was an unprecedented global emergency and this report will provide further lessons from the experience at all levels of society
"The power-sharing arrangements form a vital component of lasting peace in Northern Ireland. However, the pandemic exposed that the degree of autonomy afforded to departmental ministers is not compatible with the effective management of a whole-system civil emergency.”
There was also a warning over the impact of any future suspension of the Executive, with the report noting the collapse following the resignation of Paul Givan in February 2022.
Robin Swann
"Following Mr Givan's resignation, in the absence of a functioning Executive Committee, Mr [then UUP health minister, Robin] Swann had no alternative but to replace all existing Covid-19 restrictions set out in regulations with guidance,” said the report.
"In the context of an ongoing pandemic, this is clearly unacceptable. If a further wave of Covid-19 infection had occurred in Northern Ireland after 3 February 2022, it is difficult to envisage how it could have been managed within Northern Ireland in the absence of a functioning Executive.”Watch: Drone footage shows snowfall across Belfast The report recommended a review of NI's governance arrangements in the event of an emergency, such as a pandemic.
It said the First and Deputy First Ministers should be empowered to direct the work of other ministers and departments during such an emergency, and that a similar power should be given to the head of the Civil Service to allocate staff to departments or civil contingency measures.
A review was also recommended into how decisions normally subject to ministerial approval would be taken should an emergency occur during the suspension of power-sharing arrangements.
First Minister Michelle O'Neill has welcomed the report's publication.
"It is an important milestone in the long journey of recovery after the pain and trauma of the Covid pandemic,” she said.
"Covid was an unprecedented global emergency and this report will provide further lessons from the experience at all levels of society. Those lessons must inform our preparedness for, and response to, any future pandemic or society-wide emergency in the future.
"Our thoughts are very much with those who lost loved ones during the pandemic.”
The Ulster Unionists said in a statement: “We were deeply dismayed by the lack of seriousness shown by some Executive colleagues during this critical period, including persistent briefing against others and the leaking of confidential information. Such behaviour undermined collective responsibility and public confidence at a time when unity was essential.”
They also said Michelle O'Neill's attendance at Mr Storey's funeral was “wrong” and “seriously undermined public trust in the Executive's messaging and compliance with restrictions”.
“It is also clear that DUP colleagues were largely driven by political opportunism and sought to create division within the Executive rather than focus on the collective challenge,” they added.Tributes to husband and wife who died a day apart Four more NI taxpayers named after receiving penalties for failing to pay tax of £25k+
Brexit ‘tensions’ hampered North’s Covid response
MARK PAUL London Correspondent, Irish Times, November 21st, 2025
“Deep tensions” over Brexit hampered the pandemic response in Northern Ireland and contributed to a disconnect between the approaches taken by the governments in Dublin and Westminster, the UK’s Covid-19 Inquiry has found.
The report of the inquiry’s second module, covering the UK-wide political response, also strongly criticises Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill for attending the June 2020 funeral of IRA man Bobby Storey and for delaying her apology for doing so.
The report, by retired judge Heather Hallett, states that Ms O’Neill, who was deputy first minister at the time, must “bear responsibility” for her actions, which led to a breakdown in relations between her and then first minister Arlene Foster.
It states that the subsequent 10-week refusal by Ms Foster, the DUP leader, to take part in joint press conferences with Ms O’Neill on the pandemic, hampered messaging to the North’s public. Ms Hallett describes decision making across the North’s devolved government departments as “chaotic”.
The report highlights how the open Border between the North and the Republic made co-ordination difficult.
It states that on the first day in January 2020 that Britain’s then health secretary Matt Hancock addressed Westminster about Covid-19, a coach trip from Wuhan in China – where the virus first originated – landed in England. The tour group went to Northern Ireland before crossing over to the Republic on January 25th, even though one of the tourists onboard was already showing symptoms. “No steps were taken to prevent this group from entering Northern Ireland and travelling on to the Republic of Ireland,” the report states.
The report excoriates the political response to the pandemic across the UK as being repeatedly “too little too late”.
It also derides the “toxic” culture in Downing Street under former prime minister Boris Johnson. But it expresses particular ire for the response of the Northern Ireland Executive, which had only been back up and running since January 2020 following a breakdown of power sharing. The report states that “on multiple occasions [in the North] decision making was marred by political disputes between DUP and Sinn Féin ministers”. It states Ms O’Neill’s attendance at the Storey funeral and her initial failure to apologise “contributed to tensions”.
A four-day meeting of the Executive in the North in November 2020 was a “low point”. It states “the confidentiality of discussions was undermined by leaks” and there was “inappropriate instigation of cross-community votes” to score political points by Ms Foster.
‘Toxic culture’ under Johnson delayed UK’s Covid response, says report
Irish Times, November 21st, 2025
Initial response was ‘too little, too late’ and cost up to 23,000 lives in England alone during the first wave
The initial UK-wide political response to the Covid-19 pandemic was “too little, too late” and cost up to 23,000 lives in England alone during the first wave in spring 2020, the UK’s pandemic inquiry has found.
It also found it “inexcusable” that the same mistakes were repeated in later waves, while also finding that some lockdowns could have been avoided altogether.
The 756-page report from the inquiry, chaired by retired judge Heather Hallett, found that a “toxic and chaotic culture” in Downing Street under UK prime minister Boris Johnson hampered the UK’s response.
It also blamed Mr Johnson for his “failure to appreciate the urgency of the situation” as it deteriorated through March 2020. It said he “actively encouraged” the toxic culture, which it also blamed on people including his former adviser Dominic Cummings.
Devolved governments
The report also criticised the devolved governments in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland for their “failure to engage with the threat” early on in the pandemic.
It found that later in the response, Wales evolved to a “consensual” political decision-making approach while real power in Scotland became very centralised around former first minister Nicola Sturgeon. But it found she was a “serious and diligent leader” who took “responsibility”.
The political response in the North, however, was found to be “chaotic” at times and “marred” by political disputes between Sinn Féin and the DUP.
The report found that the UK’s lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 left “long lasting scars” on society and exacerbated inequality.
“The Covid-19 lockdowns only became inevitable because of the actions and omissions of the [UK and devolved] governments,” the report found.
It said it “should have been clear” by the end of January 2020 on evidence that the virus had spread beyond China that it posed a “serious and immediate threat” but the UK’s political system “lacked urgency”.
Boris Johnson’s failures
It said Mr Johnson’s failure to appreciate the urgency was “due to his optimism that it would amount to nothing”. Meanwhile, the devolved governments had all “failed to engage with the threat” in the early stages.
The report found that February 2020 was a “lost month” in the UK’s response, when it initially followed a looser but doomed containment or “herd immunity” strategy, due to worries that UK citizens would not follow antivirus restrictions over a long period.
“This concept of ‘behavioural fatigue’ had no concept in behavioural science and proved damaging,” the report found.
It found that Friday, March 13th, 2020, was a “watershed moment” in the UK’s response, when authorities realised they had underestimated the initial spread of the virus and its impact.
It found that restrictions implemented on March 16th in the UK should have been done sooner.
But the inquiry rejected the notion that governments were wrong to impose lockdown in principle. Ms Hallett said that “no government, acting in accordance with its overarching duty to preserve life, could ignore” the advice to implement lockdowns.
The report criticised Mr Johnson’s UK government for coming out of the first lockdown too fast, while the devolved governments were all more cautious. However, the response in the North was undermined by disputes when former deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill sparked a row by attending the funeral of IRA man Bobby Storey.
The report was less critical of UK and devolved government actions later in the pandemic, especially after the emergence of vaccines. “The four governments had learned,” Ms Hallett said.
She found that, at times, children “were not always prioritised” as they should have been.
Divided Stormont led to ‘chaotic’ Covid response, public inquiry finds
By Jonathan McCambridge, PA, Belfast Telegraph, November 21st, 2025
The report has concluded that the response in Northern Ireland, like the rest of the UK, was “a repeated case of too little, too late”
A politically divided Stormont Executive led to “chaotic decision-making” during the Covid-19 pandemic, a public inquiry has concluded.
Baroness Heather Hallett’s report on government responses to Covid found that the political reaction to the public health emergency in Northern Ireland was “deeply divided along political lines and beset by leaks, leading to an incoherent approach”.
The report said the attendance of then deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill at the funeral of veteran republican Bobby Storey in Belfast in June 2020, and her initial refusal to apologise, “contributed to tensions in the Northern Ireland Executive Committee”.
It also said there was the “inappropriate instigation of cross-community votes to make political points” by former first minister Baroness Arlene Foster.
The report published on Thursday focuses on the core political and administrative decision-making across the UK in response to the pandemic.
Political leaders were involved in significant decisions including how lockdowns were introduced, the closure of businesses and schools, and restrictions on public gatherings.
It concluded that the response in Northern Ireland, like the rest of the UK, was “a repeated case of too little, too late”.
The report said “the devolved administrations were too reliant on the UK government to lead the response”.
It said that in Northern Ireland, as in Scotland, Covid-19 was only discussed under “any other business” in meetings in late February 2020.
The report said: “It should have been equally apparent to the First Ministers and deputy First Ministers of the devolved administrations that, by this point, Covid-19 was the most pressing issue facing their governments.”
Examining the response to the second Covid wave in autumn 2020, the report said: “In Northern Ireland, politically divided Executive Committee meetings led to chaotic decision-making.
Expert medical advice ignored
“A four-week circuit breaker was introduced on 16 October 2020, despite advice that a six-week intervention was needed.”
The report said the circuit breaker “ultimately proved inadequate”.
It added: “In the weeks that followed, Executive Committee meetings were deeply divided along political lines and beset by leaks, leading to an incoherent approach in which the circuit breaker restrictions were extended for one week, then lapsed for one week, before being reintroduced for two further weeks – with the one-week lapse in restrictions correlating with a 25% increase in cases.”
When examining decision-making, the report said: “Coordination of the Northern Ireland Executive’s response was weakened by the operational independence of departments and decision-making was marred by political disputes.”
The report said the powersharing arrangements in Northern Ireland are designed to ensure that each department has a significant degree of operational independence.
It added: “This weakened the ability of the Northern Ireland Executive to coordinate the pandemic response and there was no one sufficiently empowered to hold departments to account.
“The Department of Health (Northern Ireland), which was the lead government department with responsibility for the response at the outset of the pandemic, largely operated in a silo – especially in the early stages of the response.”
The report continued: “The distinct powersharing arrangements in Northern Ireland offered the opportunity to demonstrate that decisions were being made by all parties collectively for the greater good.
“Instead, however, on multiple occasions decision-making was marred by political disputes between Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein ministers.
“The attendance of the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill MLA, at the funeral of Bobby Storey in June 2020, and her initial refusal to apologise for this, contributed to tensions in the Northern Ireland Executive Committee.
“The four-day Executive Committee meeting from 9 to 12 November 2020 represented a low point in Northern Ireland politics during the pandemic.
“The confidentiality of discussions was undermined by leaks and there was inappropriate instigation of cross-community votes to make political points by the First Minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster MLA.”
‘Wider cultural issues’
The report said the pandemic response also exposed “wider cultural issues”.
It said: “The very least the public should be entitled to expect is that those making the rules will abide by them. Instances where ministers and advisers appeared to break Covid-19 rules caused huge distress to the public.”
Ms O’Neill, now Northern Ireland’s First Minister, said the publication of the Covid inquiry’s second report was an “important milestone”.
She said: “I welcome the publication of the Module 2 Report and thank the chair and inquiry team for their work.
“It is an important milestone in the long journey of recovery after the pain and trauma of the Covid pandemic.
“Covid was an unprecedented global emergency and this report will provide further lessons from the experience at all levels of society.
“Those lessons must inform our preparedness for, and response to, any future pandemic or society-wide emergency in the future.
“Our thoughts are very much with those who lost loved ones during the pandemic.”
Reavey brothers case postponed due to PSNI and MoD disclosure delays
CONNLA YOUNG, Irish News, November 21st, 2025
A CIVIL case linked to the murder of three Co Armagh brothers has been postponed after the PSNI and Ministry of Defence (MoD) failed to provide sensitive documents to the court.
John Martin (24) and Brian Reavey (22) were shot dead at their Whitecross home in south Armagh on January 4, 1976.
A third brother, Anthony (17), died several weeks later from his injuries.
The brothers were killed by the notorious Glenanne Gang, which included members of the RUC, UDR and UVF.
The activities of the gang and other UVF units have been reviewed through Operation Denton, which is overseen by the Kenova investigation team.
A civil case linked to the murders was due to begin on December 1.
However, both the PSNI and MoD have failed to hand over sensitive material despite the looming trial date.
The December trial was originally set in June, and it is understood several disclosure deadlines have been missed since. At one point, the judge was reviewing the case weekly.
Eugene Reavey, who has recently written a book about the murders of his brothers, said he has spent 50 years “fighting for the truth about what happened to my brothers”.
“For decades, I have been in courtrooms, seeking justice.
“Ten times this year alone, I attended hearings’
“Ten times this year alone, I attended hearings where I was assured this December trial date would not be moved.
“Now, 10 days out, I’m told the PSNI and MoD are not ready.
“It feels like the air was pulled out of my chest.”
Mr Reavey was critical of the state agencies.
Brian, John Martin and Anthony Reavey died after a shooting at their Whitecross home in 1976
“This is not a scheduling or resource issue, the defendants have had ample time to prepare for this hearing and consistently ignored court orders,” he said.
Mr Reavey said he doesn’t have “another 50 years” to get to the truth.
“All I am asking for is honesty, accountability, and an end to the state’s refusal to face its own past.
“My family has waited too long. I have never lay down and I will not let this be swept aside yet again.”
Diarmuid Brecknell, of Phoenix Law, said: “It is now simply unacceptable that we have defendants that do not comply with their obligations to the court.
“Both the PSNI and MoD really need to properly deal with these cases.
“The current process is not working.
“Mr Reavey deserves justice.”
The PSNI and MoD were contacted.
Comment by Raymond McCord, Victims Campaigner after attending the debate on the new Legacy Bill on November 21st, 2025:
Hilary Benn failed to convince anyone with his new Legacy Bill. He is certainly not impartial. Was it the Director General of MI5 who wrote his speech up for him? As I sat in the public gallery listening to him, he sounded like a school headmaster trying to convice his pupils that he knew what was best for them, without success.
Soldiers shaking their heads and realising this Secretary of State speaks out of both sides of his mouth. A career politician no doubt destined for the House of Lords preparing for his departure, but maybe this is only wishful thinking by me and many other victims. Mr Benn "your" Bill is a failure on your own behalf. It will not only be rejected by victims and their families, but everyone else.
Trying to please your instructors in the Intelligence agencies won't bring truth and justice for victims. With you appointing yourself as the Boss of Bosses and stating previously in Parliament that it's you who will decide which documents are given to the families for inquests means more coverups. Clearly you learnt nothing from your meetings with victims.
Our thoughts and opinions mean nothing to you. There is no respect shown for victims only an arrogant assumption that we will accept this cover up for the benefit of the British State and its security agencies. It's a BIG NO from me and all the victims I’ve spoken to from both communities.
Another wasted opportunity to do the honourable thing from a mainland career politician who has sadly shown he doesn't know any better.
Raymond McCord Victims campaigner
British Army veteran facing murder charge unfit for pre-trial proceedings
By Alan Erwin, Belfast News Letter, November 20th, 2025
A British Army veteran charged with murdering a man in Belfast more than 50 years ago is unfit to participate in pre-trial proceedings, a court heard today.
The former member of an undercover unit, referred to as Soldier F, is accused of the killing of Patrick McVeigh at the height of the Troubles.
He faces further counts of attempting to murder four others in the same shooting incident on May 13, 1972.
Belfast Magistrates’ Court was told that a doctor who examined him on behalf of the prosecution has now backed a defence expert’s assessment of his medical status.
Crown counsel confirmed: “He agrees that Soldier F is not fit to participate in committal proceedings.”
Mr McVeigh, a 44-year-old father of six, was gunned down from a passing car on a street corner at Finaghy Road North as he spoke to those manning a civilian checkpoint.
Four other men shot at scene
Four other men were shot and wounded at the scene.
Earlier this year a decision was taken to prosecute Soldier F based on an evaluation of evidence gathered in a police investigation.
Three of his ex-military colleagues, identified as Soldiers B, C and D, were jointly charged with the attempted murder of two other men at Slievegallion Drive in west Belfast on the previous day.
All four defendants were part of a unit known as the Military Reaction Force which operated in Belfast at the time.
Members of the MRF used unmarked cars to patrol parts of the city before the outfit was disbanded the following year.
Soldier died
The charge against Soldier C was formally withdrawn after he died over the summer period.
Ongoing proceedings against the three surviving defendants have been held up amid health-related issues and potential legal bids to halt the case at a preliminary stage.
Although a medical report on behalf of Soldier D indicated he is also unsuitable to be returned for trial, District Judge Steven Keown was told the prosecution expert has assessed him as fit to participate in the process.
In a separate development, prosecutors sought time to consider any implications from the acquittal of another veteran in the high-profile Bloody Sunday trial last month.
More challenges possible
The former paratrooper, also given the cipher Solder F but not the same defendant, was found not guilty of murder and attempted murder charges related to the shooting of unarmed civil rights demonstrators in Derry in January 1972.
The court heard his non-jury trial involved statements taken at around the same time and under the same procedures as in the case against the former MRF members.
“We will obviously have to take into account the impact of that judgment,” the prosecution barrister said.
“We also have to consult with the family of the deceased and various other people.”
Ian Turkington KC, for Soldiers D and F, disclosed that a request has been made to review the decision to prosecute both his clients.
“In light of recent medical evidence there may be challenges elsewhere,” he added.
With more than 10,000 pages of material now served on the defence, Judge Keown agreed to adjourn the case until January.
Number of officers retiring due to ill health soars 700% in six years
ALLISON MORRIS, Belfast Telegraph, November 21st, 2025
WITH NUMBERS AT A RECORD LOW, PSNI SAW 200 LEAVE OVER SICKNESS LAST YEAR
The number of PSNI officers leaving the force every year due to ill health has increased by 700% in a six-year period.
Figures obtained by the Belfast Telegraph show that in 2024, some 200 police officers left the PSNI through ill-health retirement.
In 2021, the figure was 74 officers; in 2018, the total stood at just 25.
The huge jump in those leaving through ill health has contributed to the reduction in police numbers.
The PSNI currently has just under 6,300 officers — the lowest number since the formation of the force in 2001.
The New Decade, New Approach deal in 2020 gave a political commitment to the PSNI having 7,500 officers, as envisaged under the Patten policing reforms two decades ago.
Last year, the PSNI said there was “a compelling case” for 8,500 officers, based on comparisons with other UK police services.
While officer strength is an operational matter for Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, the cost must be met from the annual budget allocation from the Department of Justice.
On average, 550 officers are absent each day due to sick leave, further reducing the number of officers available for duty. Just under half of that number — 217 officers — have been on sick leave for 90 days or more.
In September 2024, the Chief Constable told the Policing Board that only 4,500 officers, from a total of approximately 6,300, were deployable for full operational duties, with the difference attributed to sickness and restricted duties.
More than 1,700 officers took sick leave in 2024/25 — more than 27% of the total police workforce. Of that number, 1,032 are on psychological sick leave.
As of early 2024, approximately 1,080 PSNI officers were absent from duty due to sickness, with another 1,080 on restrictive duties, according to the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
Earlier this week, a teenager was arrested after two police officers were injured when their vehicle was rammed in Maghera.
Police said the driver of a van had been travelling on the wrong side of the Glenshane Pass towards oncoming traffic.
They said the 18-year-old male driver “deliberately drove” the van at a police vehicle, ramming it and injuring the officers.
The chair of the Police Federation, Liam Kelly, said: “We had 885 officers injured in assaults between September 2024 and this September.
“These figures graphically illustrate the extent of risk and challenge officers confront every week.
“Recovering from cuts, breaks and bruises is only part of the story. Their recovery often leaves lasting effects including a range of psychological conditions that, in too many instances, have led to officers leaving the service for less dangerous and demanding employment elsewhere.
“An indication of the seriousness of the current situation can be gleaned from the number of officers leaving the service through Ill Health Retirement (IHR). In 2018, the IHR figure was 25. In 2024, the figure had jumped to 200. Over a six-year period, IHR has witnessed a 700% increase.
“We are witnessing burnout, excessive work hours, injuries on duty, and worrying rates of psychological illness.”
Belfast City Council hardship fund drops from £1.1m to just £75,000
ANDREW MADDEN, Belfast Telegraph, November 21st, 2025
LACK OF STORMONT FUNDING RESULTS IN DRASTIC REDUCTION IN CASH FOR SCHEME
A lack of central government support has resulted in a Belfast City Council (BCC) hardship fund for residents dropping from £1.1m in the last financial year to just £75,000 for 2025/26.
BCC Chief Executive John Walsh has written to Stormont Communities Minister Gordon Lyons in a plea for funding, to avoid “leaving many vulnerable residents without essential aid”.
The council's hardship fund provides a range of support to families to help them with the cost-of-living crisis.
In recent years, programmes have included childcare support, food vouchers and help with utility costs.
More than 50,000 people in Belfast in 2024/25 alone received support through the various programmes.
In late 2022/23, the Department for Communities (DfC) provided BCC with a hardship grant of £724,600. Combined with underspends from the council's Covid support grant, BCC was able to implement a £1m hardship programme for 2023/24.
VAT income raided
Due to lack of Stormont funding in 2024/25, the council had to allocate £1.1m on a one-off basis from VAT receipts to ensure the programme could be delivered.
For this financial year, a current budget of just £75,000 is available for the hardship programme.
In his letter to Mr Lyons, Mr Walsh said the council recognises that DfC has provided £777,811 for BCC's social supermarket fund for 2025/26.
Social supermarkets sell food, cleaning products and toiletries at discount prices to those in need.
Mr Walsh added: “However, the evidence from delivery of the 2024/25 hardship programme shows there is a need for additional support through other approaches, including targeted support for fuel poverty and initiatives focused on specific cohorts such as older people and children and young people.
“The department also provides significant funding for a range of advice services across the city which council also contributes to; these services are crucial in enabling access to independent advice and there is co-ordination across the hardship, social supermarket and advice programmes to increase the impact of each approach.
“However, there remains a need to support the most vulnerable in the city through additional support, which the Belfast hardship programme has successfully provided in previous years.”
Mr Walsh said that, in light of these challenges and recognising the budgetary constraints faced by DfC: “I kindly request that you and your officials give strong consideration to providing funding for a hardship programme in 2025/26.”
New funding model needed
The BCC chief executive added: “Additionally, we would welcome exploration of a recurrent multi-year funding model to enable more strategic, long-term efforts in tackling poverty and hardship at the local level.
“We firmly believe that collaborative working between the department and local councils will provide better outcomes for our communities.”
As things stand, the available £75,000 will go to 11 family support hubs in Belfast.
Belfast City Council briefing documents said this proposal “had been discussed with the members of the Cost-of-Living Working Group, who felt this was a pragmatic approach given the limited budget and to ensure a good geographical spread through the 11 family support hubs to help support children and families in immediate emergency need.”
DfC has been contacted for comment.
Earlier this year, research by Queen's University Belfast academics found that the Belfast council area, as well as Derry City and Strabane, have more deprived areas than any of the 374 other local authorities in England, Scotland, Wales or the rest of Northern Ireland.
Where is the ‘something better’ we were promised?
ALEX KANE, Irish News, November 21st, 2025
A FEW weeks ago, the Ulster Farmers’ Union passed a motion of no confidence in Andrew Muir, the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
A few days ago, at a conference of the Local Medical Committee, GPs sent what was described as a ‘resounding message’ to Health Minister Mike Nesbitt by supporting a motion of no confidence in him.
Two weeks earlier, a majority of MLAs supported a motion of no confidence in Education Minister Paul Givan – although it wasn’t a cross-community majority, and most of the contributions didn’t go much further than name-calling and finger-pointing.
And last Monday, the Speaker confirmed that the requisite number of signatures had been gathered for a call-in motion to force a collective decision from the executive on Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald’s personal instruction to the DfE and Invest NI that no public funds should support the manufacture of arms or components for supply to Israel.
By the time you read this column there may well be another couple of internal or external motions on the assembly floor: a situation which might be described as the political equivalent of diarrhoea.
Instead of a Unity Poll, how about a ‘No Confidence’ Referendum?
Now then, I wonder what would happen if we had a no confidence referendum: Have you confidence in the ability of the executive to deliver accountable, cooperative, prioritised, costed, thought-through collective governance?
I would be surprised if the answer were Yes. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if the main reason for the No result would be unionists blaming nationalists, Alliance blaming everyone else, and nationalists blaming unionists.
Ironically, I also think that Sinn Féin, the DUP, Alliance, UUP and SDLP would base their campaigns on trying to deliver a victory for Yes.
They all know that the no confidence side would have the stronger case, because there now is no chance of collective, let alone good government. That would require a demonstrable willingness to work together while turning the occasional blind eye and deaf ear, but that’s clearly not going to happen.
And it’s not going to happen because the electoral bases for SF, DUP, SDLP and UUP aren’t voting for that sort of relationship.
Even Alliance, after a few years of trying to be all things to all people, is discovering that growing numbers of their own people (mostly attracted after the Brexit referendum) seem to be returning to old tribal instincts.
At the heart of all of this is a traplike conundrum. The parties don’t want to work together, and nor do their voters want them to work together: there are even significant differences between the nationalist parties and unionist parties in terms of them working with parties from the same constitutional standpoint.
But here’s the thing: none of them have actually any realistic alternatives to the assembly.
That’s a criticism that applies to the TUV too; because while it quite likes the idea of direct rule from Westminster, that’s not happening. The best it would get is some bizarre form of neither-fish-nor-fowl arrangement involving both governments.
Just as I’m writing this, Indy has returned from school and he’s singing: “Salagadoola mechicka boola, Bibbi-bobbidi-boo, Put them together and what have you got?”
“The assembly and executive too,” I shout out – and he storms off, complaining that I have ruined his pantomime song.
But to be honest, that gibberish is as close as you’re going to get to an accurate description of what passes for business up on the big hill.
It really doesn’t need to be like this. There are bound to be issues (indeed a whole raft jump to mind) where the MLAs and ministers and committees could work together in common cause for the collective good for everyone here.
Wouldn’t it be much more satisfying for them if they could point to regular successes rather than simply point the finger and scold?
Do we have to live in the past?
Does our present really have to be lived in the past? Will there ever come a point at which the post-1998 generation will catch even a glimpse of the ‘something better’ that the pro-GFA parties offered in May 1998; or the ‘new opportunities’ that Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness offered in May 2007?
“At the heart of all this is a trap-like conundrum. The parties don’t want to work together, and nor do their voters want them to work together
I know that the unionist and nationalist parties have different and competing agendas on the constitutional future of NI. So be it.
But how different and competing are their agendas and positions on, for instance, education, housing, health, infrastructure, agriculture, investment, library provision, the new and growing challenges of SEN, etc?
Might it be possible to have a few days away together and see if supposed differences might be narrowed and then fine-tuned into a new and collectively underpinned strategy?
They don’t have to like or even respect each other.
Yet some respect for the entire electorate and population might go a long way to instilling the confidence which is so desperately needed right now.
GP charges will not happen on my watch insists Nesbitt
JONATHAN McCAMBRIDGE, Irish News, November 21st, 2025
HEALTH Minister Mike Nesbitt has vowed that charges to access GP services will not happen on his watch.
Mr Nesbitt also told the Stormont Health Committee yesterday that he was “reasonably optimistic” a dispute with GPs in Northern Ireland over funding for services could be resolved.
The minister briefed the committee on his “Shift Left” agenda, which aims to move health services in the region towards a neighbourhood model of care.
He said there was “universal recognition” that if services continued to be delivered in the same way, “we are hurtling towards some form of collapse”.
He said: “The change has to be this almost fabled shift left.
“I know that this winter we will be inevitably be looking at our acute hospitals and the queue of sick people waiting to be treated.
“We have to shift left and try and think about prevention, in other words trying to keep healthy people healthy and when people do begin to get sick, getting in early with early prevention.
“The neighbourhood model is the way to go.”
GPs central to system
Mr Nesbitt said GPs were central to his plans.
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt says he will not oversee a move to a hybrid model for GPs where some patients pay for care
A vote of no confidence in Mr Nesbitt was passed by the British Medical Association’s Northern Ireland Local Medical Committee Conference in Belfast on Saturday, in response to the minister’s move to impose the 2025/26 GP contract on doctors, despite them rejecting its terms.
The additional £9 million offered by the minister as part of the contract fell far short of the extra £80 million GPs said was required to stabilise general practice services in Northern Ireland.
At the conference, delegates also voted no confidence in the Department of Health and agreed to examine options on how GPs could operate outside current NHS structures in the future.
The minister told the committee: “I am now reasonably optimistic we have the opportunity for a three-phased approach to resolving difference.
“The first will be the NIG-PC (Northern Ireland general practitioners committee) will be engaging in short order with officials seeking clarity on the latest offer they have received from us.
“Phase two, they will take that back to their committee and if things go well then, if things go well we will open a new round of negotiations and discussions on a new contract.”
Mr Nesbitt added: “A small number of GPs have been talking about a hybrid model; to be clear a hybrid model means some people pay for accessing their general practice.
“Not on my watch. The tenet of the National Health Service is it is free at the point of need. I am not moving off that.
“I don’t think it is a universal view (the hybrid model), I don’t think it is anything near a universal view within primary care.”
Committee chairman Philip McGuigan said plans to shift to a neighbourhood model needed the support of GPs.
He added: “We are in a scenario where the department and GPs are currently at loggerheads over core funding.”
Mr Nesbitt responded: “Yes, the committee is in dispute with us but that has not stopped us speaking to individual GPs.
“We are having discussions about the neighbourhood model and how they see it.”
Tougher visa rules for migrant nurses would ‘risk patient safety’
ALLAN PRESTON, Irish News, November 21st, 2025
PLANS to toughen visa rules for nurses is “unjust” and “risks patient safety” in Northern Ireland, a health union has said.
The RCN’s Northern Ireland Director, Professor Rita Devlin, made the comments after warnings that an estimated nearly 50,000 migrant nursing staff may leave the UK.
The UK government is to launch a consultation this week that suggests migrant health workers could face a much longer wait to settle with ‘Indefinite leave to remain’ (ILR).
This allows migrants to live, work and study in the UK as long as they want and to apply for benefits if eligible. It can also be used to apply for British citizenship.
This is currently granted after five years for health workers, but could stretch to 10 years. Applying for ILR also costs each individual more than £3,000.
Professor Devlin said: “International nurses have come to Northern Ireland to support our health service and care for our patients.
“To treat them this way is unacceptable; they deserve certainty about their future and should not be denied access to state support while working in public services and paying taxes.
“Extending the qualifying period for ILR is not only unjust but it risks patient safety as we are reliant on our international colleagues to ensure services run smoothly.
“Research from the RCN also states that nearly 50,000 migrant nursing staff might leave the UK if ministers press ahead with the plans.
Surveying 5,000 migrant nursing staff, 60% who don’t have ILR said any decision to extend the qualifying period would “very likely” affect their decision to remain in the UK.
Mapped against the number of migrant nursing staff on entry clearance visas, they said as many as 46,000 migrant nursing staff could be at risk of leaving the UK.
The RCN add that the proposals have created “profound distress among migrant nursing staff,” with 53% extremely concerned about their financial security, 52% concerned about the impact on family life and another 49% worried about their career.
Professor Nicola Ranger, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, added: “These proposals are not just immoral; they would be dangerous for our patients. No minister who has any interest in the success of our health and social care system would press ahead with extending the qualifying period for ILR.
“If the government continued to show nursing staff they aren’t welcome here, they shouldn’t be surprised when they decide to leave.
“The proposed changes to the UK’s immigration system make their reforms to the NHS less likely to succeed and don’t serve the interest of our patients or nursing staff.”
PSNI faces questions over policing of supporters of proscribed groups
LUKE BUTTERLY, THE DETAIL, Belfast Telegraph, November 21st, 2025
PALESTINE ACTION BAN SPARKS DEBATE OVER APPROACH TO PARAMILITARIES
The PSNI is facing fresh questions about consistency in policing, as Belfast and Co Londonderry prepare for Palestine Action protests tomorrow.
Since Palestine Action was banned in July, the PSNI has made three arrests and sent six files to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS), according to data provided to investigative website The Detail.
The cases relate to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act, which makes it an offence to wear clothing or display items that indicate support for a proscribed group.
Over the same period, however, the PSNI took no similar action against public displays linked to proscribed loyalist or republican groups, despite several high-profile incidents. These included parades honouring UVF killer Brian Robinson in Belfast in September, and another in Portadown in August for Harris Boyle, a UVF member linked to the Miami Showband massacre.
Both were attended by hundreds of people, with UVF wreaths carried openly.
The UK's most senior terrorism law expert told The Detail the “overtly supportive” displays at these events involved clear potential Section 13 offences.
“A display with the letters UVF certainly arouses reasonable suspicion that those responsible are members or supporters of the UVF, a proscribed organisation,” said Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.
“Section 13 Terrorism Act therefore applies. There are no loopholes because the display is floral, or because of clever wordplay, if, in the circumstances, reasonable suspicion is aroused.”
In addition to arresting Palestine Action supporters, the police have also issued 'advisory letters' to 13 individuals in Derry, where a 'Defend the Right to Protest' rally has been held weekly since July.
The letters, issued mostly to civil rights-era pensioners, warn they may have committed a terrorism offence and invite them for interview.
Most of people arrested are pensioners
Goretti Horgan, a trade unionist and women's rights activist in Derry, said: “Most of the people doing it are pensioners, for the obvious reason that even an arrest under the Terrorism Act can have an awful impact on the rest of your life. So, those of us who have already had a good life can do that.”
Ms Horgan and her partner, Eamonn McCann, received letters from the PSNI on August 8, the day before a planned protest, which was scheduled for the same day as the Apprentice Boys parade, where a band carried a UDA banner.
“It was to scare us off,” Ms Horgan said.
“But even the PSNI can see it is ridiculous that [it's] collecting evidence on us while doing nothing about people carrying the flags of sectarian murder gangs.”
If charged, she intends to launch a judicial review about why there is action against them but not against support of paramilitaries.
The PSNI confirmed that no advisory letters had been sent regarding displays of support for any paramilitary groups in the four months since Palestine Action was banned. The only other action taken in relation to a Section 13 offence since July was the arrest of man in Derry for carrying a flag displaying the images of Hezbollah and Hamas.
A PSNI spokesperson said its “role is to apply the law fairly and proportionately, regardless of the issue or organisation involved”, adding: “The proscription of groups is a matter for Government; police act to ensure public safety and uphold the law. We are clear that people have a right to protest and express their views; we will continue to facilitate that. We simply ask that those taking part do so peacefully and within the law, so everyone can make their voices heard safely.”
SDLP MP Colum Eastwood said the disparity in the police approach was stark.
He said Palestine Action has little presence in NI, while local paramilitaries engaged in “racketeering, drug dealing and extortion continue — and these people hold their communities to ransom”.
Recent months have seen paramilitary threats over bonfires and Irish-language signage, and the targeting of Catholic and migrant families in north Belfast.
Mr Eastwood also criticised the Home Office for failing to consider NI's unique policing and political context: “This is a total dereliction of duty when policing is so sensitive here.”
The Department of Justice and The Executive Office said they were “not consulted or asked for any input” regarding the decision to proscribe Palestine Action.
PSNI pointed to a statement by DCC Bobby Singleton to the Policing Board in September: “We had no role in the decision to proscribe [Palestine Action].”
Daniel Holder of the Committee on the Administration of Justice said that, alongside concerns about disparity in policing of proscribed groups, “there is a specific concentration of Palestinian solidarity activities within nationalist communities”, and PSNI enforcement actions “risked discriminatory impact against nationalists”, explaining: “Whilst there are persons engaged in Palestinian solidarity activities here who are Protestant, Jewish, Muslim —there is a specific concentration of Palestinian solidarity activities within nationalist communities, with, by contrast, support for Israel higher among unionists.”
A legal challenge to the UK's decision to ban Palestine Action is set to be heard next week.
Supreme Court judgement: TUV says law still requires RE to be 'Scriptural and Christian'
By Philip Bradfield, Belfast Telegraph, November 20th, 2025
TUV councillor Keith Ratcliffe says most commentary on the issue has overlooked that the law still requires RE in NI to be based on the bible.
Despite the Supreme Court judgement critiquing the delivery of Religious Education in Northern Ireland, the law still requires the foundation of RE to be "Scriptural and Christian" the TUV has said.
On Wednesday the Supreme Court ruled that the provision of Christian religious education in Northern Ireland schools does not comply with human rights standards and is unlawful.
Supreme Court judgement could see parents sue for more Christian assemblies, says Evangelical Alliance
However TUV councillor Keith Ratcliffe has said most commentary on the issue has overlooked that the law still requires RE in NI to be based on the bible.
“I am deeply concerned by the implications of the recent Supreme Court judgement on Religious Education and collective worship in our schools," he said.
"However, while the Court has expressed its view on how RE was delivered in one particular setting, it is vital to underline one critical fact which seems to have been lost in much of the commentary: the law has not changed.
“Article 21 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 remains firmly in place.
“It requires that religious education in controlled schools must be “undenominational… based upon the Holy Scriptures according to some authoritative version or versions thereof”.
“The judgement did not strike down this legislation. The law still mandates that the foundation of RE in Northern Ireland is Scriptural and Christian."
He added: “The task now falls squarely on the Education Minister. This judgement must not be used as a pretext to weaken or water down the Christian ethos of our schools. Instead, the Minister should reaffirm the statutory requirement that RE be taught on a Scriptural basis and ensure that collective worship in schools retains its broadly Christian character as required by law."
Meanwhile, all Ireland political party Aontú has raised the matter in the Dáil in Dublin.
Deputy leader Gemma Brolly said her party disagrees with the Supreme Court judgment.
"Aontú is a pluralist republican party,” she said. “We believe that all parents should be able to choose the ethos of the schools they send their children to.”
Aontú Mayo TD Paul Lawless raised the decision in the Dáil on Thursday, she said. He asked the Taoiseach to raise this decision with his British counterparts in London "to make sure that all parents have the choice to send their children to a school of their ethos".
Nothing to fear from fresh thinking and inclusivity
Pro Fide et Patria, Irish News, November 21st, 2025
THE ruling by the UK Supreme Court that the provision of Christian religious education in Northern Ireland schools does not comply with human rights standards, and is therefore unlawful, is a major development by any standards.
All the key groups in the sector need to be given a full opportunity to study it closely and consider its implications, without angry voices jumping prematurely to conclusions which may well prove entirely misleading.
The case goes back to 2022, when the High Court in Belfast initially decided that Christian-based RE taught in our schools was illegal, although the Department of Education (DE) subsequently won an appeal against that judgement.
“The Supreme Court said the outcome “was not about secularism in the education system”, and stressed “no one is suggesting that RE should not be provided in schools”
In a dramatic turn on Wednesday, the Supreme Court unanimously allowed an appeal by an unnamed father and child in this region, challenging the legality of the teaching of RE, and the practice of collective worship in the state-controlled primary school which the child attended between ages four and seven.
Judges sitting in London endorsed the initial High Court judgement from three years ago which held that, as both RE and collective worship in the school followed the core syllabus specified by the DE, they were not conveyed in “an objective, critical, and pluralistic manner”.
The Supreme Court said the outcome “was not about secularism in the education system”, and stressed “no one is suggesting that RE should not be provided in schools”.
This did not prevent some commentators, online and elsewhere, from aggressively linking the verdict to the debate over what have become known as culture wars, which have become hugely divisive in the US, and even making blatantly false claims about the background.
Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry, representing the Catholic Church, offered a noticeably more measured response, saying he was “quite sanguine” about the ruling, which he described as unsurprising.
The bishop said: “I’m looking forward to the next stage of the journey. I don’t see it as a negative thing. There are many points to be clarified – this is an opportunity for all of us to be involved in renewing the RE curriculum.”
Other faith leaders have taken an equally mature approach, and there is a clear opportunity for the DE to listen carefully to all their representations before offering advice to our schools on how to proceed.
It is essential our structures respect the wishes of parents who want their children to be educated in a religious environment, but we should have nothing to fear from fresh thinking and inclusive policies which respect all sections of our increasingly diverse society.
