The chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan and his Northern Irish counterpart, Michael McBride, sat at the end. Despite differences about the timing of restrictive measures, the objective was the same: to stop the spread of Covid-19. Meanwhile, the political infighting which had marred relations between Deputy First Minister O’Neill and Foster appeared to have been dropped. They stood side by side, each at an official podium marked with the logo of the Northern Ireland Executive. Until then many in Northern Ireland had looked southwards, especially in the wake of Varadkar’s TV address.

Source: The Irish Times March 20, 2020 16:07 UTC