From Bobby Storey funeral to Holyland street parties: Five incidents that shook public confidence

Day trippers: There was bedlam in Portstewart earlier this month

Ralph Hewitt Twitter Email

January 27 2021 07:00 AM

The public message that the fight against Covid-19 is a collective effort has been pushed out by both the Executive and health experts since the beginning of the pandemic.

But it has been consistently eroded by brazen breaches of the regulations and guidance being ignored.

The Belfast Telegraph takes a look at some of the incidents that shook public confidence in the battle against Covid-19.

Bobby Storey funeral

Over 2,000 people attended the funeral of veteran republican Storey in June, including Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill and other high profile Sinn Fein politicians.

In the three months before the funeral, Ms O'Neill and First Minister Arlene Foster put their differences aside and united to fight the virus. Their almost daily press conferences which hammered the health message home came to an abrupt end after Mr Storey's funeral.

It wasn't until September that the First and Deputy First Ministers took to the stage together once again.

While the PSNI began an investigation into possible Covid breaches at the funeral, many felt the health message had been destroyed beyond repair.

Holyland street parties

As the beginning of the new university term got into full swing in September, images of hundreds of young people partying in south Belfast's Holyland area quickly came to light.

Health Minister Robin Swann said the footage of those drinking in the student housing area "will not be tolerated".

Police took full advantage of new legislation allowing them to enforce the Covid-19 regulations, breaking up house parties in the days after the images emerged.

For some, however, the response by the police was too little too late.

Stormont lockdown protest

Police arrested a number of people after a crowd of around 300 protesters gathered at Stormont to demonstrate against coronavirus regulations in October.

There were several police vehicles present and a warning was read out over the loudspeaker about the risk of prosecution under the Covid-19 restrictions.

Speaking after the protest, Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd said: "Officers therefore moved to enforce the regulations resulting in the issue of fixed penalty notices and a number of arrests."

Following the display, many people felt that the PSNI were choosing which public gatherings to police, while others expressed disgust at those who felt the need to protest against the health regulations.

North coast bedlam

Arlene Foster admitted the Executive was forced to consider tougher lockdown measures after huge crowds descended on the north coast at the beginning of January.

Thousands of day trippers flocked to Portrush and Portstewart despite the Covid-19 regulations discouraging non-essential travel.

Photographs showed maskless visitors queued up outside takeaways as bumper-to-bumper traffic choked the famous strand along the town of Portstewart.

This came after the Executive introduced tougher restrictions on Boxing Day, leaving many of those who stuck to the festive restrictions wondering if we really were in this together.

Eamon McCourt funeral

The crowd that gathered to follow the funeral cortege of veteran republican Eamon 'Peggy' McCourt in Londonderry on Monday was the latest controversial incident.

Police have launched an investigation into whether the scenes at the funeral breached Covid-19 regulations.

Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said his party was not involved in organising the funeral although some members attended.

Despite being given assurances by family and political representatives prior to the funeral, police said it was regrettable that guidelines were not followed.