I'm sorry for going to Storey funeral - O'Neill

First Minister Michelle O’Neill has apologised for attending the funeral of former Sinn Féin chairman Bobby Storey.

She has been giving evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry in Belfast.

Ms O'Neill was deputy first minister of Northern Ireland from 2020 to 2022, during which time the Covid pandemic began.

Alongside the then first minister, Arlene Foster, she was jointly responsible for leading the Northern Ireland Executive’s response.

However, Ms O’Neill had faced claims she broke coronavirus guidelines in June 2020 when she attended Mr Storey's funeral.

“My actions compounded the hurt, my actions also angered families I am sorry for going and I am sorry for the hurt that’s been caused."

Ms O'Neill has previously apologised for the hurt caused by her actions and any undermining of the public health message, but not for her attendance. She once said she would "never apologise for attending the funeral of a friend".

When asked by the chair, Baroness Hallett, if she was aware of the hurt and anger at the time, Ms O’Neill replied: “I didn’t and I ought to have.”

Minutes of an executive meeting after the funeral reveal notes from Ms O’Neill, in which she asked her executive colleagues to “divorce their views of Mr Storey from her actions".

Ms O’Neill said she was invited by the family, that she was honoured to attend, that Mr Storey was a huge figure and thousands would wish to be there.

She said people vote with their feet, there was no dilution of public message and no offence intended.

Within those minutes, her party colleague Conor Murphy said rules had been relaxed and that people were entitled to their opinion.

A woman whose mother died with Covid-19 in March 2020 said she takes Michelle O'Neill's apology at "face value".

Brenda Doherty's mother, 82-year-old Ruth Burke, was the fourth person in Northern Ireland to die with the virus during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

"It’s took over four years, really, you know, realistically for her to acknowledge that she shouldn’t have been there," Brenda Doherty said of Ms O'Neill's apology at the Covid inquiry.

"I mean, I think that’s the main thing for us," she said.

"It’s the acknowledgement that she shouldn’t have went and it’s a starting block for a lot of families because as far as we were concerned it wasn’t about the green and orange [politics], it was about the person that made the rules, breaking the rules."

Ms Doherty said it was "a slap in the face" when those who were making the guidelines and regulations appeared not to be following them.

"They made it one rule for one and one rule for the other," she said.

Ms Doherty was unable to have a funeral for her mother and instead said she attended a 15-minute committal with her family.

"There was no bringing mummy home, there was no carrying of the coffin," she said.

"My sister and I weren’t allowed at the graveside until mummy was put in the hole in the ground and the other eight family members had to stand at the red and white tape and we will never, ever have those opportunities again."

by Jayne McCormack, BBC News NI political correspondent

Michelle O'Neill is facing one of her toughest days so far in front-line politics.

Since taking the top job at Stormont, she has positioned herself as a "first minister for all".

However, within minutes of taking the oath at the inquiry she was under pressure over her leadership as deputy first minister in the midst of an unprecedented health crisis.

The political fallout from the Bobby Storey funeral is well documented and we know it damaged relations around the executive table.

Although she apologised for the hurt her actions caused at the time, Ms O'Neill was also previously on record as saying: "I will never apologise for attending the funeral of my friend."

Now almost four years later, she has now gone further in making an apology for just that.

But she went on to say that despite the effect it had on public adherence to the rules, that was the only time she feels her leadership fell short during the pandemic.

Whether those actions undermine everything else she did will be a question she faces repeatedly at the inquiry today.

The UK Covid Inquiry has been shown an exchange of messages where Baroness Foster accused Ms O'Neill of publicly undermining health minister Robin Swann.

The messages were shared on 21 March 2020, when Baroness Foster said the deputy first minister was “playing politics when things are much too serious".

In her message, she added: "It is hugely disappointing but I am not surprised."

Ms O’Neill said the messages did not reflect any difference in how governments around the world were trying to “manage and get through it".

When the lead counsel to the inquiry, Clair Dobbin KC, put it to Michelle O’Neill that she and other executive colleagues played politics, Ms O'Neill replied: “I absolutely refute that.”

She said the exchange of WhatsApp messages expressed the difficulty they were having.

Counsel suggested it was hardly a “mature discussion” between two leaders. Ms O'Neill said it demonstrated one exchange at one point in time.

Ms O'Neill said the pandemic was a "harrowing time for any decision maker"

She said in the early weeks, the executive was "too heavily dependent on the health approach" and lessons should be learnt for the future.

Asked if it was too easy to say it was Department of Health's response and they were leading it?

Ms O'Neill responded that it was a "reality of the circumstance".

The first minister also criticised the use of a cross-community vote at a tense executive meeting in November 2020 to block some Covid restrictions from being extended.

She described the DUP's use of it as "wholly inappropriate".

She also told the inquiry it was "not a good moment in time for the whole of the executive", and it fuelled "anti-Covid sentiment" among some.

Regarding school closures, Ms O’Neill said it “was too serious to sit back and do nothing”.

She said she spoke out about closing schools “to save lives”.

Ms O'Neill said schools were closing in the Republic of Ireland and the public in Northern Ireland was confused.

She said a two-island approach would have “served us a lot better”.

Ms O’Neill described the closures as a huge first decision that the Executive took collectively.

She said they were being advised by the Chief Medical Officer but to close was a collective executive decision.

Ms O'Neill said the executive office was extremely reliant on the chief medical officer who she recognised had a “very challenging job".

She said The Executive Office agreed that they needed additional advice including their own chief scientific advisor for the executive and confirmed that new role was starting soon.

She said it felt the chief medical officer was “keeping the lead” and there was a general sense that too much responsibility was vested in that one area.

Ms O'Neill also said she did not accept comments made in a WhatsApp message by the former head of the Northern Ireland civil service, Sir David Sterling, that there was a “lack of leadership".

Referring to an email where Mr Sterling said ministers had been “found wanting”, Ms O'Neill said she did not accept that as an assessment, rather that ministers were faced with “hard decisions”.

She added that it was “a bit rich” for the head of the civil service to speak that way.

Ms O’Neill said Northern Ireland was “woefully” unprepared for the pandemic and agreed with counsel when she said that a plan formulated a week before lockdown was “basic”.

She said Northern Ireland did not have the legislative power to close mass events which is why event organisers took it upon themselves to do just that.

She agreed that ministers were probably taken by surprise by the announcement of lockdown.

On Monday, Health Minister Robin Swann told the inquiry that the attendance of senior Sinn Féin politicians at the funeral in June 2020 meant the executive lost the confidence of the public.