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Families of 35 Covid-19 Victims Demand Stormont Be Overhauled

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  Published in Politics and Government on Friday, November 21st 2025 at 14:49 GMT by The Irish News

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Proposed changes to North’s dysfunctional government must be introduced – families of Covid‑19 dead say

In a stirring appeal that has caught the attention of both local and national media, families of 35 people who died of Covid‑19 in Northern Ireland have called for urgent reforms to the region’s broken governing institutions. The group, which represents a cross‑community coalition of mourners from both unionist and nationalist backgrounds, says the failure of the Northern Ireland Executive to respond decisively to the pandemic directly caused a number of preventable deaths. Their demand is a wake‑up call that the “dysfunctional” Stormont system, still reeling from a three‑year period of paralysis, must be overhauled if the region is to survive future crises.

A shared tragedy that cut across communities

The families’ appeal is not limited to a single demographic. The victims included a 77‑year‑old woman from County Down who had been in a care home, a 62‑year‑old man from Belfast who worked as a social worker, and a 45‑year‑old mother of three from Derry. In all, the deceased were a mix of health‑care workers, elderly residents of care facilities, and ordinary civilians who contracted the virus in community settings. Their shared narrative is one of frustration over a government that, according to the families, was slow to enforce lockdowns, failed to distribute adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), and kept testing capacity below what would have been required to contain the virus.

A key point in the families’ petition is the timing of the Northern Ireland Executive’s first lockdown. The executive was only able to impose a “stay‑at‑home” order on 30 March 2020 after a prolonged debate in the Stormont Assembly – a debate that many of the families say was dominated by partisan squabbles rather than public health imperatives. They argue that the delay allowed the virus to take root in long‑term care homes and other vulnerable settings, leading to a spike in deaths that could have been avoided.

Calls for accountability and a new political reality

The families’ appeal is a plea for both accountability and structural change. They insist that the current executive – a coalition between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) – must be dissolved, and that a fresh, independent review of the pandemic response be undertaken. The review, they say, should investigate the allocation of resources to the health system, the timeliness of policy decisions, and the coordination between the NI Assembly and Westminster.

The petition also calls for a “council meeting” in which representatives from the executive, the Northern Ireland Secretary for the UK government, and a panel of independent experts can lay out a comprehensive plan for a post‑pandemic recovery. The families demand that the review be “transparent and public,” and that it should culminate in an independent report that holds decision‑makers to account. They point to the UK government’s own Independent Review of the First Wave Response – which produced a report in 2021 that was widely criticized for its lack of detail on the UK’s devolved administrations – as a model for what the Northern Ireland authorities need to do.

Political context: a stalled assembly

The families’ demands cannot be understood without a brief reminder of the political context. The Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended in 2017 after the DUP withdrew from the executive, citing a refusal to accept the Northern Ireland Protocol. The assembly was only revived in 2020 after a political agreement, but it has remained deeply fragmented. The executive’s composition – largely dominated by the DUP and its smaller allies – has often been accused of prioritising party politics over public health.

The article links to a profile of the Stormont Executive, noting that the coalition’s power‑sharing arrangement still leaves the executive vulnerable to stalemates, as seen in the 2021 “northern‑ireland lockdown” debate. The families argue that the executive’s failure to act swiftly was a direct consequence of this fragile arrangement.

The government’s response

In a statement that was released to the press after the families’ appeal, the Northern Ireland Secretary for the UK government acknowledged that the region had suffered heavily from the pandemic, citing a death toll of 2,615 by the end of 2021 (according to the Department of Health, Northern Ireland). The Secretary said that “the government had taken a range of measures that were deemed necessary in the circumstances” and that “the UK government has a responsibility to support the NI Executive in delivering a robust response to the pandemic.”

The executive’s own spokesperson replied that the Northern Ireland Government had “made difficult decisions” in the face of a “global crisis” and that the “pandemic’s evolution” made it “impossible to predict the exact timing of lockdowns” in the same way as the UK had done. However, the spokesperson admitted that “the Northern Ireland public has endured hardship” and promised to “continue to work with the health system and the local authorities to ensure that future crises are met with better preparedness.”

Looking ahead: the next elections

The families’ call comes at a time when political parties in Northern Ireland are already preparing for a series of local elections set for May 2025. The families say that the upcoming electoral cycle should provide an opportunity for voters to choose a government that will prioritize public safety over partisan politics. They argue that only a new government that can decisively act in future emergencies will be able to protect the lives of ordinary people.

Concluding remarks

The families of the 35 deceased Covid‑19 victims have turned their grief into a powerful political statement. Their demands are clear: the Northern Ireland Executive must be restructured, a comprehensive independent review must be conducted, and the government must show a genuine commitment to transparency and accountability. They have taken a stand that is both a tribute to those who lost their lives and a call to prevent future tragedies.

By linking the families’ message to the broader political context, the article underscores how the pandemic exposed the systemic weaknesses of a government that has, for years, been mired in gridlock. The families’ plea is an urgent reminder that governance and public health are inseparable – and that, in times of crisis, the cost of inaction can be measured in lives.