“If funding is necessary for a Covid response in Northern Ireland then London will look at that seriously.”
An agreement has been reached by the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with both parties believing that more needs to be done across the border to tackle Covid-19.
According to Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, he addressed the issue yesterday while speaking to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis.
Coveney said that funding may be an issue, and that London will look at it “seriously” if that is the case.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he spoke about Boris Johnson, saying: “What he is saying is that the British Government has already made significant funding to the Executive specifically for Covid in Northern Ireland and the response there.
“I’d like to speak to some of the senior politicians in Northern Ireland today to establish exactly what is the blockage there because certainly Brandon Lewis, the Secretary of State, was very clear with me yesterday that funding should not be the blockage.
“If funding is necessary for a Covid response in terms of public health response in Northern Ireland then London will look at that seriously.
“If there is a blockage based on a lack of funding from London to Northern Ireland then we need to address that and Brandon Lewis, speaking to me yesterday, was happy to address that.”
On Wednesday, figures that were released showed that 4,417 cases were confirmed in the North in previous seven days, compared to 3,113 in the Republic.
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