Baroness Foster will appear before the UK Covid Inquiry in Belfast later
Baroness Arlene Foster is appearing before the UK Covid Inquiry in Belfast.
She was Northern Ireland first minister from January 2016 to January 2017 and during the pandemic from January 2020 until she resigned on 14 June 2021.
This is not be the first time Baroness Foster has appeared before the inquiry.
In July 2023 she said the UK government should have stepped in to make decisions in the absence of ministers at Stormont from 2017 to 2020.
Health officials have said the absence of ministers impacted the preparedness for health emergencies.
On Tuesday, the former deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill appeared at the inquiry.
During the hearing Ms O’Neill apologised for attending senior republican Bobby Storey’s funeral during lockdown.
The former first and deputy first ministers fell out over the funeral, with the then DUP leader abandoning their joint news conferences for around two months.
However, they ended their sometimes difficult political relationship on good terms according to Whatsapp messages released by the inquiry.
Card and gifts
The day before her resignation as DUP leader following an internal coup, the Sinn Féin vice president sent her a text saying: “I’m genuinely sorry if you don’t get to bow out the way you had planned. Politics is certainly not an easy path.”
Mrs Foster replied: “Thanks Michelle. Just felt you should know.”
Three weeks later the former DUP leader thanked Michelle O’Neill for a card and gifts prompting the reply “You are welcome. Take care.”
