Opinion

Newton Emerson: Is coronavirus lockdown to be judged on the anticipated compliance of the public?

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson writes a twice-weekly column for The Irish News and is a regular commentator on current affairs on radio and television.

<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif, Arial, Verdana, &quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;; ">How long will the public obey coronavirus lock-down instructions?</span>
How long will the public obey coronavirus lock-down instructions? How long will the public obey coronavirus lock-down instructions?

When the RHI inquiry was commissioned in 2017 by Sinn Féin former finance minister Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, he told inquiry chair Sir Patrick Coghlin that Coghlin would have control over the report’s publication to “reduce any scope for political interference, or any perception of it”.

When Stormont was restored two months ago, Ó Muilleoir’s successor Conor Murphy left his officials to find out when the report would be released, to ensure the process was “free of ministerial interference, or any perception of it.”

So it was unfortunate Sir Patrick chose to publish on the Friday before a holiday weekend, when DUP leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Féin deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill were due to be in the United States.

After three years of disproving interference by refusing to rush, why stick to a date bound to raise suspicion? Perhaps Sir Patrick, a retired judge, felt further delay just to manage perceptions would itself be a political act.

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It appears the coronavirus epidemic will bounce Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael into forming a new Irish government within weeks, rather than circling the matter for months. As time runs out for any credible alternative a short-term ‘national government’ of all major parties, including Sinn Féin, has been proposed from various political and media quarters. Fianna Fáil TD Eamon O Cuiv suggested the same four weeks ago, before coronavirus was an issue.

The response from the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael leaderships has been to define a ‘national government’ as themselves without Sinn Féin, for which Sinn Féin must be quietly delighted.

Whatever the outcome, Northern Ireland can only smile at the idea that what the Republic needs to heal its divisions is some Stormont-style power sharing.

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With the Republic going into coronavirus lock-down, questions have immediately been asked about how Northern Ireland and indeed the whole UK can have a different policy. Viruses cross borders and the British and Irish governments both insist they are acting on scientific advice, as does Stormont. Medical science might be the same everywhere but one variable being assessed by advisers makes all the difference: how long will the public obey lock-down instructions?

At a Downing Street press conference this week it was strongly suggested the British government believes is has only two to three weeks of public obedience to play with, so it needs to hold off as long as possible to make that count.

The Irish government might have judged its population to be more compliant, if only because it is smaller. However, Dublin has announced an initial lock-down of just two and a half weeks.

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Coronavirus will inevitably mean school closures in Northern Ireland but DUP education minister Peter Weir has told the assembly teaching can continue. We have one of the best school computer systems in the world and Weir’s officials have assessed this as capable of delivering “remote learning”.

The minister did not mention Elluminate, the part of the system that allows lessons to be watched live over the internet, installed in every school a decade ago precisely to cope with pupil illness.

Teaching unions were so horrified by the prospect of 30 virtual parents in every class that they effectively blocked Elluminate’s use, despite lengthy negotiations by education officials.

If the equipment gets switched on for coronavirus, will it all be switched off again afterwards?

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Sammy Wilson is officially off the reservation. The DUP chief whip has delivered a speech and penned a News Letter article denouncing the Brexit withdrawal agreement as “the worst of all worlds, not the best of both worlds” for Northern Ireland.

The new position of the DUP leadership is that Brexit is the best of both worlds.

It is inconceivable that Wilson will be sanctioned, let alone sacked, so it seems the DUP’s Brexit worlds are doomed to collide.

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SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole has asked Sinn Féin communities minister Deirdre Hargey about reform of Northern Ireland’s “absurd, anachronistic licensing laws”, making particular mention of the effect Easter closing has on pubs.

Hargey was kind enough not to mention that former SDLP minister Alex Attwood reviewed the law in 2011, following pleas from pubs and clubs for later hours and Easter opening. He ended up shutting clubs an hour earlier.

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The Good Friday Agreement left one unresolved territorial dispute between the UK and Ireland, with both claiming full ownership over Lough Foyle.

Two years ago, the DUP demanded Dublin relinquish its claim and London assert full control. In response, Donegal Sinn Féin senator Padraig McLaughlin urged the DUP to be “sensible and not provocative” and called on both governments to “sit down and work out some sensible agreement.”

Yet this week, in an out of the blue party statement, Foyle MLA Martina Anderson mirrored the DUP’s position by demanding the British government drop its “baseless territorial claim” and the “Dublin government” assert the lough “is and has always been part of Ireland.”

Does this mean Sinn Féin has stopped being sensible?