Coronavirus: No decision on NI restrictions after late night talks
Talks ended in the early hours of Wednesday without the executive reaching agreement.
The DUP had
blocked a proposal from the health minister to keep all restrictions in place for two more weeks.Ministers have, instead, been debating a partial reopening of some sectors.
The current restrictions expire at midnight on Thursday.
Stormont's executive ministers are set to meet again at 12:30 GMT on Wednesday.
An alternative paper aimed at reaching a compromise between the political parties was brought to the executive by DUP Economy Minister Diane Dodds on Tuesday evening.
It suggests close-contact services such as hair and beauty salons can reopen on Friday, by appointment.
'Safely open group'
It also proposes allowing unlicensed premises such as cafes and coffee shops to reopen on Friday, but licensed premises would remain closed until 27 November.
It is also understood that a "safely open group" could be established if ministers agree the plans, that would cover hospitality.
The minister has previously said she did not want the restrictions to be extended, as it could further damage the economy.
It is understood she still holds this view, but recognises that the executive must agree a "general consensus".
However, it is understood the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride, warned ministers that any relaxation of restrictions would cause excess deaths.
With some parties concerned by that, no further progress was made on the new plans.
Why did the DUP block the original proposal?
The DUP has been most vocally opposed to extending the current restrictions, which saw much of Northern Ireland's economy placed under tight restrictions for four weeks from 16 October.
Its ministers had maintained that the measures should be time-limited and said they would not support an extension.
The proposal from the Department of Health last week was to extend all the measures for two weeks, until 27 November.
DUP ministers said they could not support that, and put the proposals to a cross-community vote within the power-sharing executive.
It can be deployed by any three ministers in the executive to require cross-community support on a particular matter, effectively giving a party with enough ministers a veto.
What happens next?
The regulations are still due to expire at midnight on Thursday.
If consensus on extending some of restrictions is not reached, then the legislation will fall away and the rules will revert to those in place prior to 16 October.
If the executive agrees a new plan with some restrictions being extended, it will need to be put into legislation by officials quickly, in order to align with the other set of regulations expiring.
However, some hospitality businesses have said even if they were to be given the green light to reopen this weekend, they have not received enough notice to prepare staff and supply chains.
It’s now too late for many businesses to reopen this weekend, and if they are taken off the closed list they will lose the financial support.
The only option is to keep them closed with financial support, and engage with us to get them reopened ASAP and no later than 27th Nov. pic.twitter.com/pEK4Q2uiqB
— Hospitality Ulster #HelpOurHospitality (@HospUlster) November 10, 2020
Meanwhile, health officials have maintained that further interventions before Christmas to slow the spread of the virus cannot be ruled out, if restrictions are lifted.
November 11, 2020 at 02:33PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-54897748
Labels: BBC News
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