Stormont 'not really listened to' during Covid, inquiry hears

Devolved governments felt "politely entertained but not really listened to" when raising matters with Westminster during the Covid-19 pandemic, former Stormont minister Conor Murphy has said.

The Sinn Féin representative was speaking as he gave evidence at the UK Covid Inquiry.

It is currently examining the procurement and distribution of healthcare equipment and supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators and oxygen.

Murphy was finance minister in Northern Ireland's power-sharing devolved government during the pandemic.

At the inquiry on Wednesday, he was asked whether the concerns of devolved administrations were taken into account during meetings on procurement with the UK government.

The former minister said he was not involved in meetings on PPE procurement, "so I can't attest to that".

But he added: "As a finance minister, and listening to the experience of other ministers in the executive and other ministers in other devolved governments, generally we had the sense of being politely entertained but not really listened to in most matters that we brought to central government in Whitehall."

Murphy was due to attend the inquiry during an earlier module last year when hearings were held in Belfast, but he was absent following "medical advice".

He later told how he had suffered a mini-stroke which led to him temporarily stepping aside as a Stormont minister.

Murphy quit the Northern Ireland Assembly in February after being elected to the Seanad (Irish parliament's upper chamber).

He has denied the move was for health reasons, instead saying he aimed to "advance the debate on Irish unification".

The former minister told the inquiry: "I was unable to give evidence at the scheduled time at the module in Belfast.

"So I didn't get the opportunity at that stage to offer my condolences and sympathies to those who have been bereaved through the Covid experience, so I'd just like to take that opportunity to do so now."

Murphy was also asked about a failed attempt in 2020 to secure a joint order with the Irish government for PPE from China.

He said at the time it was a "very rapidly moving situation" and a number of orders had been "diverted with people who had come in with larger cheque books".

Murphy said they concluded the joint order would not go ahead "and that our people on the ground for the Northern Ireland Bureau in Beijing would then pursue their own contacts".