Education and hospitality unfairly bearing the brunt of Northern Ireland’s new Covid restrictions

When Arlene Foster addressed the Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday on the latest coronavirus restrictions, the first minister let it slip that the imminent closure of schools could have been for substantially longer than the two weeks encompassing half-term.

The DUP fought a commendably robust rearguard action against calls from the other parties in the Executive to close schools for between four and six weeks.

It is a matter of significant regret and concern that the Ulster Unionists, Sinn Fein, Alliance and the SDLP are prepared to sideline our children’s education for even longer and repeat the mistakes made in the spring.