Stormont followed advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) which changed to recommend the closure of schools later in March. Giving evidence to the inquiry sitting in Belfast on Tuesday, Ms O’Neill said she was baffled that their advice around schools could be so different on either sides of the border. “We live in a small island, two jurisdictions back to back, and particularly in relation to the issue of schools closure. “In 24 hours, a lot had changed … we had lost the wider public, they were taking the children out of schools. “In that 24 hours we were actually committing to remove the children from schools, schools were shutting down, even education authorities like CCMS (Council for Catholic Maintained Schools) were telling schools to close.”

Source: The Herald May 14, 2024 16:23 UTC