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Michelle O’Neill statement on travel
Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill has called for a legal ban on non-essential journeys across the island of Ireland.
The Sinn Féin vice-president said the measure should be accompanied by a ban on travel between the island and Britain.
She expressed regret that ministers had not supported her party’s proposal for a ban on travel from Britain at Monday night’s Executive meeting.
Ms O’Neill said her call for an all-island approach was “not a political point” but instead “about saving lives”.
The Deputy First Minister also called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to work with the Stormont Executive on a joined-up approach to prohibiting non-essential journeys through the island.
She said: “We needed to have urgent and immediate action. Sinn Féin proposed that there’d be an outright travel ban from Britain at the Executive meeting last night and that didn’t enjoy the support of the executive.
“I think that’s very unfortunate, very disappointing, particularly given the threat that is now posed because of this new strain, this new virus.”
Stormont ministers on Monday night agreed to issue new advice against non-essential travel between Northern Ireland, Britain and the Irish Republic – but there was no agreement on imposing an outright travel ban.
Ms O’Neill said the region was an “outlier”, given steps to ban travel in other European countries in response to the Covid-19 variant discovered in south-east England.
“Here we are on the island of Ireland, where one part of the island is shutdown to travel and then another part is not,” she added.
“And I just think that’s not a good position for us to be in, we’re in a very dangerous position.”
She added: “We need an all-island approach, there needs to be an all-island travel ban. That’s the best way we can respond to this crisis. That should have been the approach from the outset.
“So I would encourage the Taoiseach to work with us, I would encourage the Taoiseach to try to get to the point where the whole of the island is shut down to any inbound travellers in order to allow us to try to have the best chance to fight back against this new variant, which, as we know, spreads faster than the current form, we know spreads perhaps four times faster.
“I think that the enormity of that means that we need urgent immediate action on an all-island basis. This is not a political point. This is very much a practical point. This is about saving lives, this is about doing the right thing. This is about protecting the health service. This is far too serious for any kind of politicking in the middle of it.”
Speaking in Coalisland, Ms O’Neill dismissed the argument that bans were not appropriate given the likelihood of the variant already being in the island.
“That’s like saying when the taps running, let it keep running, let it overflow, let it flood the bathroom,” she said.
Asked if she would support a ban on cross-border travel, Ms O’Neill replied: “When it comes to north-south travel, my message to everybody is very, very clear – no-one should travel unless it’s essential. No one should make any non-essential journeys.”
