MICHELLE O'Neill offered a "heartfelt and unreserved apology" to families bereaved during the pandemic as the assembly yesterday censured the Sinn Féin deputy first minister and party colleague Conor Murphy.
The SDLP motion was passed in the aftermath of Tuesday's decision not to prosecute 24 Sinn Féin members over alleged Covid regulation breaches at the funeral of Bobby Storey last June.
The outcome of the emergency debate, called during the assembly's two-week Easter recess, is non-binding and will not result in any sanctions against the two ministers.
Opening the debate, infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon accused Sinn Féin of "arrogance" and a failure to previously offer a "full apology".
"Enough of the word play, no more diluted, craftily worded apologies," she said.
"I ask the leadership of Sinn Féin - let this be the day that without qualification or equivocation you do offer the people of the north a full explanation."
First Minister Arlene Foster, who last September acknowledged a previous apology from Ms O'Neill by ending a boycott of joint press conferences, said Sinn Féin had called for equality, respect and integrity "but actually demonstrates the opposite".
"Once again the message from Sinn Féin was clear – ourselves alone, and ourselves first regardless of the costs of undermining the public health messaging," she said.
"The wake, the funeral procession of thousands and the political rally were clear and premeditated breaches of the Covid regulations."
Ms O'Neill said she was "truly sorry" for the hurt caused to those who had lost loved ones.
However, despite calls for her to go further, Ms O'Neill did not say her attendance was wrong.
"I wish to again say today, and to put on the public record, that I am truly sorry for the hurt that has been caused to so many families who have lost a loved one," she said.
"I am truly sorry that my actions have contributed to the grief or the heartache that has been felt and experienced by many people who've lost a loved one during this pandemic.
"That was never, ever, my intention and for that I offer my heartfelt and unreserved apology to those families that have lost a loved one."
Finance Minister Conor Murphy said he regretted the political division the controversy had caused.
"I want to say sorry to the wider community and more particularly to apologise fully and unreservedly to those families who were hurt by my actions," he said.
Alliance's Kellie Armstrong, who lost a loved one during the pandemic but was not allowed to attend a funeral, said she was disappointed there had been no “unambiguous or unequivocal apology” from the Sinn Féin deputy leader.
"We are a close family and we wanted to be there for each other but we couldn’t, as we stuck to the rules and didn’t find a loophole," the Strangford MLA said.
"Sinn Féin knew their actions were not in the spirit of the regulations but still they chose to flout the guidance."
Ulster Unionist Party deputy leader Doug Beattie said Sinn Féin's contribution to the debate – which he said amounted to "just four minutes" - was "not good enough".
"We needed to hear more, and we heard nothing – it was doubling down on the position you were in before we came here today," the Upper Bann MLA said.
